Starry sky reproducing device

ABSTRACT

A starry sky reproducing device contains: a ceiling section an inner surface of which has a semi-spherical surface on which a starry sky can be projected; a wall section which has a nearly vertical wall surface contiguous to a lower end section of the semi-spherical surface of the ceiling section; a floor section on which the wall section is installed; starry sky projection means for projecting a starry sky on the semi-spherical surface of the ceiling section, the starry sky projection means being installed near a center of the floor section and near a center of the semi-spherical surface of the ceiling section; a plurality of seats which are installed on the floor section; one or more partial starry sky reproducing means for reproducing details of a part of a starry sky, the partial starry sky reproducing means being installed between the seats and the wall surface, preferably at positions in a proximity of the wall surface; and one or more telescopes through which a detailed image of a part of a starry sky which the partial starry sky reproducing means reproduces can be observed, the telescopes being installed at positions between the seats and the wall surface opposing the partial starry sky reproducing means across the starry sky projection means.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to starry sky reproducing sheet and deviceto reproduce a starry sky for astronomy education, and more particularlyto starry sky reproducing sheet and device to efficiently providelearners with experiences of visual observation of a starry sky throughbinoculars, telescopes, or photography with cameras, as well asobservation with naked eyes.

BACKGROUND ART

Observational learning is important for citizen, or particularly foryoung kids to have more interest in the cosmology and astronomy, and tostudy scientific approach on them. That learning experience does notonly mean a passive experience like astronomy observation through nakedeyes with listening to a commentary, but it also include detailedobservation of dark stars that are unable to be observed with naked eyesthrough binoculars or astronomical telescope, and further includephotographic observation of dark celestial objects that are unable to beobserved even through an astronomical telescopes and those emittinglight of wavelengths that are unable to be observed with naked eyes.These experiences will lead the citizen to advanced studies.

For those purposes, educational facilities hold events for astronomyobservation with astronomical telescopes or cameras. However, the eventshave not been able to provide high-quality experiences of observation ofa starry sky for the following reasons.

-   1. The sky on city side is too bright with city lights for    observation of dark stars. The observation must be conducted under a    dark sky.-   2. The observation condition is restrictive because the observation    condition is affected by the place, season, and the time. Thus,    celestial objects that can be observed in the events are limited.-   3. The stars can not be observed on bad weather.

Under these circumstances, projection planetariums and various types ofstarry sky reproducing devices to reproduce stars directly have beenproposed. With these items, promoters of the events can producehigh-quality astronomy observations even on daytime, or on bad weather.

The starry sky reproducing devices as disclosed in Patent Literatures 1and 2 have been used widely as planetariums. A star projection device,settled near the center in the dome-shaped structure having a whitescreen inside, can project stars under the condition the inside of thedome is dark. Dark celestial objects that can not be reproduced by thestar projection device are projected by a general-purpose projector,instead. Thus, observers in the dome can observe an artificial starrysky.

The starry sky reproducing devices disclosed in Patent Literatures 3 to6 use the method to form star images directly on the surface of adome-shaped structure. The one in Patent Literature 3 is made of a sheetof paper having an aluminum foil thereon. It has holes on the surface ofthe sheet, so that an observer can observe starlit by holding up thesheet in front of a background light like such as from a TV set.Moreover, the one in Patent Literature 4 has the starlit wallpaper onwhich a starry sky is drawn with luminous paints. The one in PatentLiterature 5 has light emitting-elements like LEDs inside a dome-shapedstructure and the elements reproduce starts.

The starry sky reproducing device in Patent Literature 6 has opticalfibers. The edges of the fibers are fixed on the wall of a dome. Anobserver can observe light led by the fibers as stars.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature Patent Literature 1: JP 2009-210912 APatent Literature 2: JP 2008-225294 A Patent Literature 3: JP H7-43533 UPatent Literature 4: JP 3053620 U Patent Literature 5: JP S63-285577 APatent Literature 6: JP 3081769 U SUMMARY OF INVENTION TechnicalProblems

To provide high quality, effective observation through binoculars,telescopes, or cameras at a low cost, a starry sky reproducing deviceneed to have the following target capacities. At present, theconventional starry sky reproducing devices do not have the capacitiessufficiently as illustrated below. An object of the present invention isto achieve the target capacities that can not be achieved by theconventional devices. Bellows are the details on the object.

First, the 12 target capacities required for a starry sky reproducingdevice are illustrated. Then, problems of conventional devices areillustrated in detail.

Target capacities 1-4 relate to mandatory functions of a starry skyreproducing device, and target capacities 5-12 relate to desirablefunctions thereof.

>Target Capacity 1: Wide Dynamic Range

It is required to reproduce every brightness level from bright celestialobjects which can be observed with naked eyes to dark ones which can notbe observed without telescopes or digital cameras.

Sometimes a starry sky reproducing device needs to reproduce celestialobjects having brightness difference of 25 magnitudes, or in otherwords, brightness difference of 10 billion times at maximum; forexample, including Venus having a magnitude of −4.7 and a star having amagnitude about 20.3, which can be observed when a camera is used. As adata of the dark stars, the data on a billion stars ranging to the 20thmagnitude recorded in the USNOB1.0 published by United States NavalObservatory can be used. Furthermore, the observation data on the deepspace photographed by Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by NASA,contains data on further darker stars. A wide dynamic range is requiredto reproduce stars based on these observation data.

>Target Capacity 2: High-Definition Images of Stars

It is required to reproduce the starts in high definition withoutdistortion so that sharp, bright stars can be observed even when thestars are enlarged by a telescope.

To be recognized as a dot when observed with human eyes, a star needs tohave an apparent diameter of 1 arc minute or smaller. For example, whena star is observed through binoculars having seven times highermagnification than the naked eyes, settled close to the center in a domeshaped planetarium of 15 meters in diameter, the star need to bereproduced to have a diameter smaller than 0.3 mm. Further, the star hasto be reproduced without distortion in order to be observed as a dot.

>Target Capacity 3: Reproduction of Accurate Colors of Stars

It is required to reproduce every star with an accurate color.

The human capacity on recognition of colors gets down in darkness. Thus,the colors of dark stars need less to be reproduced when observed withnaked eyes. On the other hand, the colors are discriminated accuratelythrough photographic observation even when the stars are dark.Therefore, every star is required to be reproduced with the accuratecolor thereof.

>Target Capacity 4: Low Cost

It is required that the processes to achieve the target capacities 1-3are carried out at a low cost.

To produce a star projection device having target capacities 1-3,following items are needed; a high-brightness light source, ahigh-definition star plate containing optical fibers, andhigh-specification projection lenses having low distortion and highbrightness. Furthermore, a telescope with a large diameter having a highlight-gathering power is needed for observation of dark stars. However,these items are expensive.

In a planetarium, an opportunity of astronomical observation can beprovided to a large number of learners by one explainer. If theobservation uses telescopes during the explanation by the explainer,however, every telescope requires an instructor. To achieve low costobservation, planetarium needs to provide the opportunity with a smallernumber of instructors.

>Target Capacity 5: Positional Relationship Among Stars withoutDistortion

It is important for stars to be observed with accurate positionalrelationship in the same way as observed with naked eyes even through atelescope regardless of positions of the stars on the celestial sphere.

Because the stars reproduced by projection in a planetarium has limit ofthe projection distance, it is unavoidable that some observers observethe stars with distortion depending on their sitting positions. On theother hand, though the observers sitting on the center of thedome-shaped structure can observe the stars without distortion, sittingon the center is impossible because of the presence of the projectiondevice on the center. To solve the problem, the seats in the planetariumare settled close to the center as possible as they can. Also when thestars are observed through a telescope, it is important for the stars tobe observed without distortion of positions regardless of theirpositions on the celestial sphere.

>Target Capacity 6: Securing of Observation Distance

It is important to secure an enough distance between a telescope andcelestial objects to be observed.

Astronomical telescopes on the market are usually designed forobservation of the whole sky at an infinite distance. Therefore, someunfavorable effects, such as being out of adjustable focus limits orincreasing optical aberration, may be caused when the distance is short.In some cases, a high-cost custom-made telescope has to be prepared.

To provide astronomy observation to a large number people efficiently,it is essential to settle plural telescopes. When plural telescopes aresettled, distortion among the positions of stars observed with thetelescopes may be serious due to parallax since the distance of thetelescopes and the objects to be observed are limited. To avoid theproblem, it is needed to have enough distances between them.

>Target Capacity 7: Provision of Experience of Introduction Operation

It is important to provide experience to introduce a celestial object tobe observed into the field of a telescope. Experience of enjoying astarry sky with the use of a starry sky reproducing device is definednot only as observation of the starry sky through the telescope but alsoas experience of operation for introducing a celestial object to beobserved into the field of the telescope. At present, some volunteerstaff who assist astronomy observation try the operation and suchexperience is important for the volunteer staff, too.

>Target Capacity 8: Observation of Plural Number of Celestial Objects

It is important to observe plural number of celestial objects on thecelestial sphere.

Reproducing a starry sky that varies depending on the season enablesobservation of many celestial objects. In this case, it is desirablethat celestial objects located at almost opposite positions on thecelestial sphere can be compared with each other: for example, nebulasand/or star clusters at the Sagittarius located on the galaxy of summerand those at the Orion located on the galaxy of winter can be compared,and those at the Coma Berenices located on Galactic north and those atthe Sculptor located on Galactic south can be compared.

>Target Capacity 9: Recognition of Positions of Celestial Objects to beObserved Through the Telescope

It is important to recognize the positions of the celestial objectswhich an observer tries to observe.

It is an exciting experience for an observer to observe celestialobjects in which the observer has interests by themselves. Theexperience can not be obtained through observation of celestial imagesprovided by the internet.

However, it is not easy to recognize the positions of the celestialobjects for the observer who observes the celestial objects through atelescope. Thus, it is important to make it possible for the observer torecognize easily where the celestial objects that the observer isobserving are located in the starry sky extending above the observer.

>Target Capacity 10: Efficiency of Setting

It is important to make the observation efficient by requiring lessoperation for changing the setting of a telescope even when the objectsto be observed are plural, and have different sizes and brightnesses.Since a planetarium accommodates several tens of people, the experienceof observation through the telescope has to be provided efficiently.

When plural celestial objects are observed, the condition of thetelescope has to be changed depending on the respective brightnesses andsizes of the celestial objects. To be specific, a lens having a highlight-gathering power has to be used for dark objects, and eyepiece lenshas to be changed to provide appropriate magnification depending on thesizes of the celestial objects.

The setting operations for different stars require lots of efforts andtime. Therefore, sufficiency in setting of the telescope to provide theobservation experience to more people is important.

>Target Capacity 11: Provision of Appropriate Information to EveryObserver

It is important to provide appropriate information to each observer.

Appropriate information need to be provided depending on the observer'sage, language, levels of interest and knowledge in astronomy, andprevious experience of astronomy observation.

>Target Capacity 12: Providing an Experience of Astronomical Photography

It is important that observers can bring models of terrestrial objectsinto a planetarium and experience astronomical photography.

With the improvement of digital reflex camera, it is possible to takehigh-quality photos even by a store-bought camera. It is suggested tohave a time for astronomical photographic to touch astronomical sky. Itis important to provide an experience of astronomical photography sothat observers can take photos of models of terrestrial objects likemountains, trees, and buildings together with a starry sky.

Bellows are problems of conventional technologies on achievement oftarget capacities 1-4. Hereafter, any kinds of previous devices arecalled a starry sky reproducing devices.

The starry sky reproducing device in Patent Literature 1 is a device toimprove the conventional planetarium. The starry sky reproducing devicein Patent Literature 1 is a modification from the conventionalprojection planetarium. The configuration of the device is as follows:ends of optical fibers are fixed at the positions corresponding to starson a star plate. The other ends of the optical fibers are bundled. Lampillumination passed through liquid crystal is imaged on the edges of thebundled ends by lenses. By controlling the liquid-crystal, any stars canbe darken, turned off, or colored selectively. However, with currenttechnology, the dynamic range of transmittance through liquid crystal isat most 10,000. It is difficult to achieve the dynamic range of 10billion even if the size of the optical fibers or hole diameter on thestar plate are varied. Thus, it is difficult to achieve the targetcapacity 1.

Meanwhile, the starry sky reproducing device in Patent Literature 2 isimproved further than the one in Patent Literature 1. Through theimproved one, stars in a wide brightness range can be reproduced. Brightstars are projected by ordinary projection planetarium, and dark starsare projected by a projector. Consequently, the target capacity 1 isachievable.

However, the starry sky reproducing device in Patent Literature 2 isdesigned for observation with naked eyes. That is to say, the starimages in the system are designed to have a resolution of one arcminute, which enables the star images to be recognized as dots by nakedeyes. Thus the device, has problems to achieve target capacity 2; i.e.,in order to reproduce high-definition star images having resolution ofnine arc seconds, which enables the star images to be recognized as dotseven observed with a telescope having a magnification of seven times.

That is to say, the starry sky reproducing devices in Patent Literatures1 and 2 are required to have smaller holes on the optical fibers or starplates. That is against the target capacity 1, which requiresreproduction of bright stars.

If a high-technology 4K projector, which has a resolution of 4096 pixelalong its longitudinal edge, is used for reproducing dark stars by thedevice in Patent Literature 2, one pixel of the projector corresponds toapproximately 2.6 arc minutes when the sky is reproduced to cover themeridian on the half sphere with the longitudinal edge of the projector.The size is 2.6 times larger than the image which is recognized as a dotwhen observed through the naked eyes. That means the resolution level isnot enough. To reproduce a whole sky by plural 4K projectors in adividing manner and to provide high-definition star images which arerecognized as dots through the naked eyes, two to four expensive 4Kprojectors are needed that cost 1.5 million yen per each. Because of thehigh cost, it is difficult to introduce the device to every planetarium.

The resolution needs to be improved further by 7 times for theachievement of target capacity 2. To achieve the resolution, high costequipment is required, like over 100 sets of 4K projectors. “High cost”goes against target capacity 4, and the high cost equipment will preventthe device from being widely used.

The projection planetarium such as disclosed in Patent Literature 1projects a whole sky, with dividing the whole sky, by plural projectionunits each of which contains a light source, a star plate, and aprojection lens. The projection lens induces distortion of the starimages projected on the dome-shaped structure because of opticalaberration. Furthermore, in the case of the device disclosed in PatentLiterature 2, the projector for dark stars also introduces distortion onthe star images because the projector also requires a projection lens.

When lenses having smaller F-number are used to project stars brightly,or lenses having wider angles are used to reduce the number ofprojection units by projecting a larger area of the sky by each unit forcost reduction, the extent of the distortion is more conspicuous. Toachieve target capacity 2, higher-quality projection lenses are requiredthan ordinary ones. That consequence goes against target capacity 4.

Meanwhile, it is against achievement of target capacity 1 to use darklenses to keep down the cost for the lenses. Moreover, whennarrower-angle lenses are used, a larger number of projection units areneeded to project a whole sky. If the number of the projection unitsbecome larger, the cost will become higher, which against the targetagainst 4.

As described above, the starry sky reproducing devices using aprojection planetarium or a projector such as those disclosed in PatentLiterature 1 and 2 has the serious problems which lead to the difficultyon achievement of high level of performance on target capacity 1, 2, and4.

Next, Problems of the starry sky reproducing devices in PatentLiterature 3 to 6 are described. These systems can project stars on thewall of a dome-shaped structure directory. Thus, they do not needprojection lenses, which are required in the systems from PatentLiterature 1 and 2, and they do not need to have devices such asprojectors set on the center of the structure when the systems aredesigned to have a dome shape.

In the starry sky reproducing device in Patent Literature 3, thebrightnesses of stars can be varied depending on the sizes of the holes.The configuration is advantageous to reproduce the stars with highmagnitudes which can be observed by naked eyes, but for the achievementof target capacity 1, for example by varying the brightness in the rangeof 10 billion, it is required to change the ratio of the diameters ofthe holes by a hundred thousand times between the brightest stars andthe darkest stars. Specifically for example, when the Venus having amagnitude of −4.7 is reproduced by a hole having a diameter of 0.3 mm, a20.3 magnitude star have to be reproduced by a hole having a dimeter of0.003 micron. 0.003 micron is shorter than one-hundredth of thewavelength of light, and forming such small holes is extremelydifficult.

The starry sky reproducing device in Patent Literature 4 can reproducethe dark stars at low cost if the stars are printed out with luminous orfluorescent paint, but these paints has limits on the emissionluminance. When the stars are printed with the paints as small dots toachieve target capacity 2, the stars are difficult to be reproducedsufficiently brightly. That means the achievement of target capacities 1and 2 at the same time is difficult. Moreover, the following problemsarise when the fluorescent paint is excited by an intense UV lamp: i.e.,the background can be bright because of the visible light which iscontained in the light from the UV lamp if the light is too intense.Further, fluorescent material on observers' clothes can be illuminated,and watching UV light directly may have bad effects on eyes.

To reproduce the stars on any positions on the starry sky reproducingdevice which is disclosed in Patent Literature 5, it is required tocover the celestial sphere with LEDs. For example, to achieve targetcapacity 2 with the device, it needs one hundred million LEDs which havea diameter smaller than 0.3 mm to cover a 15-meter dome with the LEDs atintervals of 2 mm. It is extremely hard to produce one hundred LEDs forthe system, and moreover, if it is possible, it will cost high. Thatmeans the attempt will go against target capacity 4.

To achieve target capacity 1 with the starry sky reproducing devicewhich is disclosed in Patent Literature 6, the device would need pluraloptical fibers to reproduce a large number of dark stars. It requireshigh cost to install the fibers in the device, and that goes againsttarget capacity 4.

Solution to Problems

To solve the problems, a starry sky reproducing device according toClaim 1 contains a laminated sheet containing N light reducing sheetsstuck together, each of which has homogeneous light reducing effects(where N is two or larger); the laminated sheet containing, with M and Lbeing two mutually different integers that are one or larger and N orsmaller (M>L): L-layer transmission holes that are formed through Llight reducing sheets stuck together, so that light beams passtherethrough; and M-layer transmission holes that are formed through Mlight reducing sheets stuck together including the L light reducingsheets at different positions from the L-layer transmission holes;wherein light beams incident on one face of the laminated sheet passthrough the L- and M-layer transmission holes while being attenuated atmutually different light reduction ratios to become L- and M-layertransmitted beams respectively which are visibly recognizable astransmitted-light stars having mutually different brightnesses.

In addition to Claim 1, the starry sky reproducing system according toClaim 2 contains: a plurality of light emitting elements; light-emittingelement lighting control means that controls lighting of the lightemitting elements; and optical fibers that are disposed on a back sideof the laminated sheet and through the laminated sheet, and that leadlight incident on ends of the fibers from the light emitting elements toan observer side of the laminated sheet; wherein the transmitted-lightstars and light-emitting element stars that are produced by the lightled by the optical fibers from the light emitting elements can beobserved by an observer simultaneously; and wherein, when thelight-emitting element stars have an average intensity of A and thetransmitted-light stars have an average intensity of B, A>B holds.

In addition to the Claim 1 or 2, the starry sky reproducing deviceaccording to Claim 3 contains: a UV lamp that illuminates an observerside surface of the laminated sheet with ultraviolet light; and UV-lamplighting control means that controls lighting of the UV lamp; whereinthe laminated sheet contains a printed surface on the observer sidesurface thereof on which stellar images are printed with a fluorescentink that emits light by being illuminated with ultraviolet light;wherein printed luminous stars that are produced by the fluorescent inkemitting light by being illuminated with the UV lamp and thetransmitted-light stars can be observed by an observer simultaneously;and wherein, when the transmitted-light stars have an average intensityof B and the printed luminous stars have an average intensity of C, B>Cholds.

In addition to any one of Claims 1 to 3, the starry sky reproducingdevice according to Claim 4 contains a projector that contains aprojection lamp, a projection lens, and a light-path control deviceplaced between the projection lamp and the projection lens to controlthe intensity of a beam from the projection lamp to the projection lens,the projector being able to project an image on a surface of thelaminated sheet.

In addition to any one Claims 1 to 3, the starry sky reproducing deviceaccording to Claim 5 contains: a display that can display an image on asurface thereof by controlling transmittance of light from a backlightpanel for each pixel; and a transmitting reflection plate that enablessimultaneous observation of the image on the display and the light fromthe laminated sheet by reflecting light from display elements producingthe image and by transmitting the light from the laminated sheet.

In addition to any one of Claims 1 to 5, the starry sky reproducingdevice according to Claim 6 contains a second display that can beselectively placed at a first position where an object displayed thereoncan be observed in an observer's view and a second position where theobject is out of the observer's view.

In addition to Claims 1 to 6, the starry sky reproducing deviceaccording to Claim 7 contains: an approximately planar illuminationpanel containing transmission-light emitting elements that generatebackside illumination light for the laminated sheet; and illuminationpanel lighting control means that can change light intensity from theillumination panel; wherein the illumination panel can illuminate a faceof the laminated sheet with light of variable intensity by beingdisposed close to the laminated sheet.

In addition to Claim 7, the starry sky reproducing device according toClaim 8 contains laminated-sheet installation means that installs thelaminated sheet on the illumination panel in an exchangeable manner.

In addition to Claim 2, the starry sky reproducing device according toClaim 9 contains: a base frame that the plurality of light emittingelements and the light-emitting element lighting control means are fixedto; and laminated-sheet installation means that installs the laminatedsheet on the base frame in a removable manner; wherein the laminatedsheet installation means is configured to align incidence ends of theoptical fibers at positions facing light emitting planes of the lightemitting elements according to predetermined correspondence between thelight emitting elements and the optical fibers upon installation of thelaminated sheet.

In addition to Claim 2, the starry sky reproducing device according toClaim contains: an approximately planar illumination panel containingtransmission-light emitting elements that generate backside illuminationlight for the laminated sheet; and an illumination panel lightingcontrol means that can change light intensity from the illuminationpanel; wherein the illumination panel can illuminate a face of thelaminated sheet with light of variable intensity by being disposed closeto the laminated sheet; and wherein the light-emitting element lightingcontrol means or the illumination panel lighting control means works toachieve a predetermined balance of brightness observed by the observerbetween the transmitted-light stars and the light-emitting elementstars.

In addition to Claim 3, the starry sky reproducing device according toClaim 11 contains: an approximately planar illumination panel containingtransmission-light emitting elements that generate backside illuminationlight for the laminated sheet; and an illumination panel lightingcontrol means that can change light intensity from the illuminationpanel; wherein the illumination panel can illuminate a face of thelaminated sheet with light of variable intensity by being disposed closeto the laminated sheet; and wherein the UV-lamp lighting control meansor the illumination panel lighting control means works to achieve apredetermined balance of brightness observed by the observer between thetransmitted-light stars and the printed luminous stars.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

The present invention has the following actions and effects.

When observers observe the transmission holes formed on the lightreducing sheet having homogeneous light reducing effects withilluminating the sheets with light from the back side, the holes arerecognized as transmitted-light stars. That is caused by the differenceof brightness between the areas where the transmission holes are notformed and the light is attenuated and the areas where the transmissionholes are formed and the light passes through the holes.

The transmitted-light stars can reproduce stars having differentmagnitudes depending on the diameters of the holes; however, the rangeof the magnitude that can be reproduced by the diameters of the holesalone is limited by the minimum diameter that can be processed and bythe maximum diameter to be observed as dots through a telescope.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 1 contains alaminated sheet containing N light reducing sheets stuck together, eachof which has homogeneous light reducing effects (where N is two orlarger); the laminated sheet containing, with M and L being two mutuallydifferent integers that are one or larger and N or smaller (M>L):L-layer transmission holes that are formed through L light reducingsheets stuck together, so that light beams pass therethrough; andM-layer transmission holes that are formed through M light reducingsheets stuck together including the L light reducing sheets at differentpositions from the L-layer transmission holes; wherein light beamsincident on one face of the laminated sheet pass through the L- andM-layer transmission holes while being attenuated at mutually differentlight reduction ratios to become L- and M-layer transmitted beamsrespectively.

Therefore, even if an M-layer transmission hole has a same diameter asan L-layer light transmission hole, an L-layer transmitted beam will bedarker than an M-layer transmitted beam because of the light reductionby the (M-L) light reduction sheets. Namely, difference in brightnessbetween the stars reproduced by the L- and M-layer transmitted beams canbe generated by light reduction by the (M-L) sheets as well as byvariation of the sizes of the holes.

When (M-L) sheets are limited to already laminated L sheets, the lightreducing effect works homogeneously even if the laminating positions ofthe sheets are displaced between the (M-L) sheets and the L sheets. Thatmeans that the positional displacement does not have any effect on thelight reducing effect for the L-layer transmitted beams. Even if it thelaminating positions of the (M-L) sheets are displaced mutually, theM-layer transmitting beams are not attenuated by the (M-L) sheetsbecause the M-layer transmission hole is formed after the lamination ofthe (M-L) sheets through the M sheets.

As above, a wider range of magnitude of stars can be reproduced by thedifference of the hole diameter as in the conventional way, andadditionally, by variation in in degree of light reduction by the lightreducing sheets.

The advantageous effect is illustrated by an example: a laminated sheet(N=5) containing five light reducing sheets each having a light reducingeffect corresponding to two magnitudes are used. Holes having diametersof 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm are formed on the laminated sheet successively inthe states where M=L+1 with changing L form 1 to 4. Thus, transmissionholes penetrating 1 to 5 sheets are formed, and 4 to 1 sheets have lightreducing effects on the beams passes through the holes, respectively. Asa result, light reducing effects corresponding to 8, 6, 4, 2, and 0magnitudes are provided, whereby a wider range of magnitude can bereproduced than in the case where variation of one magnitude isreproduced by the difference in the hole diameter.

By increasing the number of the laminated light reducing sheets, theywill be able to reproduce a wider range of magnitude of stars even whenholes having large diameters can not be adopted for observation throughan astronomical telescope, besides, when it is difficult to formsmall-diameter holes.

In the above example, it reproduces stars at an interval of onemagnitude by laminating the sheets having two-magnitude light reduction,and forming holes having diameters of 0.5 mm and 0.3 mm repeatedly. Butthe diameters and the light reduction ratio are not limited thereto. Forexample, under the condition that the light reduction corresponds tothree magnitudes and the holes have three different diameters of 0.5 mm,0.3 mm, and 0.18 mm, stars can be reproduced at an interval of onemagnitude like in the above example. In another case, the lightreduction corresponds to four magnitudes, holes has 4 different diameterof 0.5 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.18 mm, and 0.11 mm, and 7 sheets are laminated. Inthis case, to reproduce the brightest stars, holes penetrating the all 7layers with the diameter of 0.5 mm are formed, and for the darkest ones,holes penetrating just 1 layer with the diameter of 0.3 mm. In thatcondition, it is possible to make the difference of 25 magnitudes: 6(the number of the layers in the laminated sheet)×4 (the brightnessmagnitude)+1 (the difference of the magnitude by the diameter). It ispossible to get a dynamic range of 10 billion.

On forming the transmission holes, it is better to have less loads. Inthe present invention, darker stars, which are larger in number, areformed through a thinner laminate containing a smaller number of sheets.That means tools have less loads, which leads to cost reduction.

When the laminated sheet is used to form an air dome, the sheet isrequired to have a high tensile strength. By the laminating structureand the thickness of the laminated sheet, the strength will besufficient.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 2 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claim 1. The starry skyreproducing device according to Claim 2 contains: a plurality of lightemitting elements; light-emitting element lighting control means thatcontrols lighting of the light emitting elements; and optical fibersthat are disposed on a back side of the laminated sheet and through thelaminated sheet, and that lead light incident on ends of the fibers fromthe light emitting elements to an observer side of the laminated sheet;wherein the transmitted-light stars and light-emitting element starsthat are produced by the light led by the optical fibers from the lightemitting elements can be observed by an observer simultaneously; andwherein, when the light-emitting element stars have an average intensityof A and the transmitted-light stars have an average intensity of B, A>Bholds. That means that when the beams from the light emitting elementssuch as high-brightness LEDs are lead to the surface of the laminatedsheet, they can produce light-emitting element stars having brightnessindependent from the brightness of the transmitted-light stars, wherebya wider range of magnitude of stars can be reproduced than by thetransmitted-light stars alone.

An example is presented: the laminated sheet contains 8 light reducingsheets each having light reducing effect corresponding to twomagnitudes. Transmission holes with a diameter of 0.18 mm are formed onthe first layer, and transmission holes with a diameter of 0.3 mm areformed penetrating all the 8 layers. They have difference of 15magnitudes with 14 magnitudes by the light reduction by the lightreducing sheets and one magnitude by the difference of the diameter.Further, the brightness of the light emitting elements lighting up theedge of the optical fibers are made adjustable within 10 magnitudes, orin other words, the brightness can be changed by 10 thousand times.Thus, the brightest light emitting-element stars and darkesttransmitted-light stars are reproduced with the difference of 25magnitudes of the brightness, which means the brightness can be changedby 100 million times by adjusting the illumination brightness on theback side of the laminated sheet so that the brightness of the darkestlight emitting-element stars is equal to the brightness of the brightesttransmitted-light stars reproduced by the optical fibers. Thereby, thenumber of the laminated light reducing sheets is reduced, and thelaminate sheet can be made more easily.

With respect to the reproduction cost per star, the cost for alight-emitting element star will be higher than the cost for atransmitted-light star. However, the cost can be reduced by a naturallaw: the higher the star magnitude is raised, the smaller the number ofthe stars. As the solution, the average star brightness A of the starsreproduced by the light emitting elements can be higher than the averagebrightness B of the ones reproduced by the transmitted light. Thus, thetotal cost is reduced by the natural law. Claim 3 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claims 1 and 2.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 3 contains: a UVlamp that illuminates an observer side surface of the laminated sheetwith ultraviolet light; and UV-lamp lighting control means that controlslighting of the UV lamp; wherein the laminated sheet contains a printedsurface on the observer side surface thereof on which stellar images areprinted with a fluorescent ink that emits light by being illuminatedwith ultraviolet light; wherein printed luminous stars that are producedby the fluorescent ink emitting light by being illuminated with the UVlamp and the transmitted-light stars can be observed by an observersimultaneously; and wherein, when the transmitted-light stars have anaverage intensity of B and the printed luminous stars have an averageintensity of C, B>C holds. It means that the printed luminous stars andtransmitted-light stars can be reproduced with independent magnitude ofbrightness and that a wider range of magnitude of stars can bereproduced.

An example is presented: the laminated sheet contains 8 light reducingsheets each having light reducing effect corresponding to twomagnitudes. Transmission holes with a diameter of 0.18 mm are formed onthe first layer, and transmission holes with a diameter of 0.3 mm areformed penetrating all the 8 layers. They have difference of 15magnitudes with 14 magnitudes by the light reduction by the lightreducing sheets and one magnitude by the difference of the diameter.Further, printed luminous stars are printed with fluorescent ink, sothat the brightness of the printed luminous stars ranges 10 magnitudes,which means the difference between the brightest printed luminous starsand darkest ones is ten thousand times. It will be able to reproduce thebrightest transmitted-light stars and darkest printed luminous starswith the difference of 25 magnitudes of the brightness, which means thebrightness can be changed by 100 million times by adjusting theillumination brightness on the back-side of the laminated sheet so thatthe brightness of the darkest transmitted-light stars is matched withthe brightness of the brightest printed luminous stars. Thereby, thenumber of the laminated light reducing sheets is reduced, and thelaminate sheet can be made more easily.

When the starry sky reproducing device has Claim 3 in addition to Claim2, the following configuration will be available. The laminated sheetcontains five light reducing sheet each having light reducing effectcorresponding to two magnitudes. Transmission holes with a diameter of0.18 mm are formed on the first layer, and transmission holes with adiameter of 0.3 mm are formed penetrating all the five layers. Theyreproduce 9 magnitudes. Further, the brightness of the light emittingelements lighting up the edge of the optical fibers are made adjustablewithin 9 magnitudes, or in other words, the brightness can be changed by4000 times. The illumination brightness on the back-side of thelaminated sheet is adjusted so that the brightness of the darkest lightemitting-element stars is matched with the brightness of the brightesttransmitted-light stars reproduced by the optical fibers. Further,printed luminous stars are printed with fluorescent ink, so that thebrightness of the printed luminous stars ranges 7 magnitudes, whichmeans the difference between the brightest printed luminous stars anddarkest ones is 40 times. The intensity of the UV lump illuminating theinside of the laminate sheet is adjusted so that the brightness of thetransmitted-light stars is matched with the brightness of the brightestprinted luminous stars. It will be able to reproduce the brightest lightemitting-element stars and darkest printed luminous stars with thedifference of 25 magnitudes of the brightness, which means thebrightness can be changed by 100 million times. Thus, the range of thebrightness of the stars reproduced as light-emitting element stars canbe smaller than those in Claims 1 and 2, whereby the number of thelaminated light reducing sheets is reduced, and the laminate sheet canbe made more easily.

It is possible to form printed luminous stars with a narrower spatialinterval than the transmitted-light stars formed by processing of thesheets for formation of through holes since the printed luminous starare formed through a printing process. The cost for one printed luminousstar is lower than the cost for one transmitted-light star. With thesecharacteristics, reproducing dark stars as printed luminous stars withaverage brightness lower than the average brightness of thetransmitted-light stars will produce the following effects: it willenable to reproduce more neighboring stars as more inexpensive printedluminous star. Moreover, it does not needed to raise the brightness ofthe UV lamp because the average brightness is low, and thus the UV lampwill not excite fluorescence on the observer's clothes even in thedarkness. To reproduce dark stars that are large in number, it ispossible to use a fluorescent ink with low brightness in which expensivehigh-brightness ink is diluted with water, which leads to costreduction.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 4 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claims 1 to 3. The starry skyreproducing device according to Claim 4 contains a projector that canproject an image on a surface of the laminated sheet. By projectingexplanation on the astronomical knowledges near the celestial objectsobserved by the observers, the explanation will help observers to learnastronomy more deeply.

Further, the projector can reproduce darker stars than thetransmitted-light stars and the printed luminous stars by lowering thebrightness of the projected image through lowering of the brightness ofthe projection light or through the use of a light reduction filter.Thereby, the device can reproduce a wider range of brightness of stars.

The device has an effect that images according to the situations can bereproduced selectively: images of, for example, gas clouds and darkstars observed with infrared radiation or x-ray can be reproduced.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 5 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claims 1 to 3.The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 5 contains: adisplay that can display an image on a surface thereof by controllingtransmittance of light from a backlight panel for each pixel; and atransmitting reflection plate that enables simultaneous observation ofthe image on the display and the light from the laminated sheet byreflecting light from display elements producing the image and bytransmitting the light from the laminated sheet. Thus, by displayingexplanation on the astronomical knowledges on the surface of thedisplay, the observers can simultaneously observe the starry skyreproduced by the starry sky reproducing device and the explanationdisplayed on the display. Thereby, the explanation on the astronomicalknowledge can be displayed near the celestial objects observed by theobservers, and the explanation will help observers to learn astronomymore deeply.

It will be possible to reproduce the starry sky with a wider range ofbrightness because the device can reproduce stars on the display darkerthan the stars reproduce as the transmitted-light stars and printedluminous stars by lowering the luminance of the display.

It will be possible to reproduce images selectively depending on thesituations: images of, for example, gas clouds and dark stars observedwith infrared rays or x-ray.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 6 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claims 1 to 5.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 6 contains a seconddisplay that can be selectively placed at a first position where anobject displayed thereon can be observed in an observer's view and asecond position where the object is out of the observer's view. Thus,the images on the second display can be observed by the observerswithout changing their fields of view from the sky reproduced on thelaminated sheet. For example, when the second display is fixed on thesecond position, the observers can observe the whole constellations onthe laminated sheet. By fixing the second display on the first positionafter that, to the observers can observe the celestial objects that aredisplayed on the second display. It works especially, for example, fordisplaying surface pattern of the moon or a major planet on ahigh-resolution expensive display while the cost is reduced by using asmall display. The effect is more significant when the device also hasClaim 4 or 5: a part of the observation field is reproduced on thesecond display, and at the same time, the starry sly in the fieldoutside the second display is reproduced by the image projected by theprojector as in Claim 4, or by the image displayed by the display andreflected by the transmitting reflection plate as in Claim 5. Forexample, the main object, the Jupiter itself is reproduced on the seconddisplay with the details like stripe pattern, and the Galileansatellite, the object out of the display area can be displayed byprojector or another display.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 7 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claims 1 to 6.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 7 contains: anapproximately planar illumination panel containing transmission-lightemitting elements that generate backside illumination light for thelaminated sheet; and illumination panel lighting control means that canchange light intensity from the illumination panel; wherein theillumination panel can illuminate a face of the laminated sheet withlight of variable intensity by being disposed close to the laminatedsheet. Thus, the one side of the laminated sheet can be illuminated withlight having variable brightness. The starry sky reproducing device canbe used in various environments with illuminating the one side of thelaminated sheet with a suitable brightness, such as when environmentalillumination suitable as a backlight for the laminated sheet is notavailable in the place where the starry sky reproducing device issettled.

It is possible to raise the limit of the magnitude of the celestialobjects that can be observed through a telescope by raising thebrightness of a light, even without changing the optical specificationof the telescope because the brightness to illuminate the laminatedsheet is adjustable. That has the same effect as the observation througha telescope which has a larger light-gathering power. The effect is thata whole dark sky can be observed in detail through cheapen inexpensive,small-diameter telescope, instead of an expensive, large-diametertelescope.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 8 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claim 7.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 8 containslaminated-sheet installation means that installs the laminated sheet onthe illumination panel in an exchangeable manner. Thus, the cost forpreparation of the device can be reduced because it needs only toexchange the laminate sheet for successive observation of the pluralcelestial objects through a telescope without installing an illuminationpanel for every laminated sheet individually. Furthermore, that will beefficient because the settings of the telescope such as the directionand focusing position do not need to be modified for every laminatedsheet.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 9 has the followingeffects in addition to the effects of Claim 2.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 9 contains: a baseframe that the plurality of light emitting elements and thelight-emitting element lighting control means are fixed to; andlaminated-sheet installation means that installs the laminated sheet onthe base frame in a removable manner; wherein the laminated sheetinstallation means is configured to align incidence ends of the opticalfibers at positions facing light emitting planes of the light emittingelements according to predetermined correspondence between the lightemitting elements and the optical fibers upon installation of thelaminated sheet. When the device has plural laminated sheets, the lightemitting elements and the light-emitting element lighting control meansare not needed for every laminated sheet. So the laminated sheet can beformed inexpensively.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 10 has thefollowing effects in addition to Claim 2.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 10 contains: anapproximately planar illumination panel containing transmission-lightemitting elements that generate backside illumination light for thelaminated sheet; and an illumination panel lighting control means thatcan change light intensity from the illumination panel; wherein theillumination panel can illuminate a face of the laminated sheet withlight of variable intensity by being disposed close to the laminatedsheet; and wherein the light-emitting element lighting control means orthe illumination panel lighting control means works to achieve apredetermined balance of brightness observed by the observer between thetransmitted-light stars and the light-emitting element stars. Thus, ifan observer increases the brightness of transmitted-light stars tovirtually increase the light-gathering power of the telescopetemporarily, the device will reproduce the stars with correct brightnessincluding the transmitted-light stars and the light-emitting elementstars without distorting the balance between their magnitudes. Thereby,it is possible to observe dark celestial objects in detail even with aninexpensive small-diameter telescope.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 11 has thefollowing effects in addition to the effects of Claim 3.

The starry sky reproducing device according to Claim 11 contains: anapproximately planar illumination panel containing transmission-lightemitting elements that generate backside illumination light for thelaminated sheet; and an illumination panel lighting control means thatcan change light intensity from the illumination panel; wherein theillumination panel can illuminate a face of the laminated sheet withlight of variable intensity by being disposed close to the laminatedsheet; and wherein the UV-lamp lighting control means or theillumination panel lighting control means works to achieve apredetermined balance of brightness observed by the observer between thetransmitted-light stars and the printed luminous stars. Thus, if anobserver increases the brightness of transmitted-light stars tovirtually increase the light-gathering power of the telescopetemporarily, the device will reproduce the stars with correct brightnessincluding the transmitted-light stars and the printed luminous starswithout distorting the balance between their magnitudes. Thereby, it ispossible to observe dark celestial objects in detail even with aninexpensive small-diameter telescope.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 An exploded perspective view showing the starry sky reproducingdevice of Embodiment 1.

FIG. 2 A central sectional drawing of the light box in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 3 A view illustrating the arrangement of backlight LEDs inEmbodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 A bottom view of the light box in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 5 A perspective diagram from the back side of the starry skyreproducing sheet of Embodiment 1.

FIG. 6 A detailed drawing of the contact board and the body board inEmbodiment 1.

FIG. 7 A partial cross section illustrating the positional relationshipof the contact board and the body board when the starry sky reproducingsheet is installed to the device of Embodiment 1.

FIG. 8 A view illustrating the stars and line connecting the stars inthe constellation on the starry sky reproducing sheet of Embodiment 1.

FIG. 9 An enlarged drawing illustrating the area which is highlighted onthe starry sky reproducing sheet of Embodiment 1.

FIG. 10 A cross section illustrating the laminated sheets in Embodiments1 and 2.

FIG. 11 A view illustrating the area which is irradiated with the UVlamp in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 12 A block diagram of the electronic circuit in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 13 A view illustrating the printing method for the first printedluminous stars in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 14 A view illustrating the printing method for the second printedluminous stars in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 15 A data structure chart of the RAM data in the one-chip CPU inEmbodiment 1.

FIG. 16 A view illustrating the mode information from the starry skyreproducing sheet related information in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 17 A view illustrating the scene information from the starry skyreproducing sheet related information in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 18 A view illustrating the luminance reference value of white-chipLEDs from the starry sky reproducing sheet related information inEmbodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 19 A flowchart showing the main routine in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 20 A flowchart showing the interruption routine for signal inputfrom infrared remote controller in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 21 A flowchart showing the timer interruption routine for lightingcontrol in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 22 A partial cross section illustrating the starry sky reproducingdevice 1 of Embodiment 2.

FIG. 23 A central cross sectional drawing of the light box in Embodiment2.

FIG. 24 A partial sectional front drawing illustrating the conversionmovement of the drum and laminated sheet in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 25 A back view illustrating the conversion movement of the drum andlaminated sheet in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 26 A back perspective diagram illustrating the first starry skyreproducing sheet inn Embodiment 2.

FIG. 27 A detailed drawing illustrating the contact board and body boardin Embodiment 2.

FIG. 28 A partial cross section illustrating the positional relationshipof the contact board and the body board when the starry sky reproducingsheet is installed to the starry sky reproducing device in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 29 A view illustrating the reproduced stars on the starry skyreproducing sheet in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 30 A partial sectional side view illustrating the starry skyreproducing device in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 31 A view illustrating the structure of the projector unit inEmbodiment 2.

FIG. 32 A view illustrating the location of the images which isprojected on the starry sky reproducing sheet in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 33 A front view of the settled location of the display unit inEmbodiment 2.

FIG. 34 A layout drawing of the equipment in the conventionalplanetarium.

FIG. 35 A view illustrating the arrangement of the starry skyreproducing device of Embodiment 2 and other equipment in the inclineddome.

FIG. 36 A side view illustrating the arrangement of the starry skyreproducing device of Embodiment 2 and other equipment in the horizontaldome.

FIG. 37 A top view illustrating the arrangement of the starry skyreproducing device of Embodiment 2 and other equipment in the inclineddome.

FIG. 38 A view illustrating the starry sky reproduced by the firststarry sky reproducing sheet in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 39 A view illustrating the starry sky reproduced by the secondstarry sky reproducing sheet in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 40 A view illustrating the starry sky reproduced by the thirdstarry sky reproducing sheet in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 41 A view of the first picture projected in the 3rd section in theplanetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 42 A view of the second picture projected in the 3rd section in theplanetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 43 A view of the third picture projected in the 3rd section in theplanetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 44 A view of the picture projected in the 4th section in theplanetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 45 A view of the picture projected in the first half of the 5thsection in the planetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 46 A view of the picture projected in the latter half of the 5thsection in the planetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 47 A view of the picture projected in the first half of the 6thsection in the planetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 48 A view of the picture projected in the latter half of the 6thsection in the planetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 49 A view of the first picture displayed in the latter half of the6th section in the planetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 50 A view of the first picture displayed in the latter half of the6th section in the planetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 51 A view of the second picture displayed in the latter half of the6th section in the planetarium program in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 52 A flowchart illustrating the method to add the atmosphericblurring on a still image in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 53 A partial cross section illustrating the structure of thetelescope on Embodiment 2.

FIG. 54 A cross section illustrating the second example of the laminatedsheet in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 55 A cross section illustrating the third example of the laminatedsheet in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 56 A cross section illustrating the fourth example of the laminatedsheet in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 57 A view illustrating the fourth example of the laminated sheet inEmbodiments 1 and 2, observed with the indoor light.

FIG. 58 A view illustrating the fourth example of the laminated sheet inEmbodiments 1 and 2, observed with transmitted light.

FIG. 59 A view illustrating printing density of each elements on thefourth example of the laminated sheet in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 60 A cross section view illustrating the fifth example of thelaminated sheet in Embodiments 1 and 2.

FIG. 61 A view illustration the dummy telescope for the operationexperience of introduction of celestial objects in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 62 A view illustrating a variation of the display unit onEmbodiment 2.

FIG. 63 A flowchart illustrating the production method of the laminatedsheet in Embodiments 1 and 2. [FIG. 64] A RAM data structure chart ofthe one-chip CPU in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 65 A flowchart illustrating the main routine in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 66 A flowchart illustrating focus position correcting motion inEmbodiment 2.

FIG. 67 A view illustrating the mode information from the starry skyreproducing sheet related information in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 68 A view illustrating the scene information from the starry skyreproducing sheet related information in Embodiment 2.

FIG. 69 A view illustrating the book which contains the laminated sheet.

FIG. 70 A perspective view illustrating the starry sky reproducingdevice of Embodiment 3.

FIG. 71 A cross section view illustrating the starry sky reproducingdevice of Embodiment 3.

FIG. 72 A view illustrating the partial starry sky reproducing sheet inEmbodiment 3.

FIG. 73 A cross section view illustrating the joints of the starry skyreproducing device of Embodiment 3.

FIG. 74 A view illustrating the method of assembly of the starry skyreproducing device of Embodiment 3.

FIG. 75 A view illustrating the simple observation method for thelaminated sheet.

FIG. 76 A perspective view illustrating the starry sky reproducingdevice of Embodiment 4.

FIG. 77 A cross section view illustrating the starry sky reproducingdevice of Embodiment 4.

FIG. 78 A perspective view illustrating a variation of Embodiment 4.

FIG. 79 A cross section view illustrating the variation of Embodiment 4.

FIG. 80 A partial cross sectional perspective view illustrating a usageof the device of Embodiment 5.

FIG. 81 A center cross sectional view of the device of Embodiment 5.

FIG. 82 A cross sectional view illustrating a variation of Embodiment 5.

FIG. 83 A top view of drive guiding of circulating supporting apparatusfrom ceiling of the stage.

FIG. 84 A partial cross sectional view in details of drive guiding ofcirculating supporting apparatus and the rales.

FIG. 85 A view illustrating the location layout of the starry skyreproducing device and the telescope.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Starry sky reproducing devices according to Embodiments 1, 2, and 3 areillustrated below. These devices are suitably used in differentsituations.

In Embodiment 1, a starry sky reproducing sheet 200 is installed to alight box 100 manually. In Embodiment 1, a situation is assumed where aperson who has a telescope use the device indoors in daytime or outsidein the night to provide observation of an artificial starry sky forchildren in a town. The starry sky reproducing device according toEmbodiment 1 can achieve target capacities 1-4. Embodiment 1 alsodiscloses a production method of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200for the starry sky reproducing device 1. Furthermore, Embodiment 1relates also to how to provide the materials essential to carry out inthe production method of the starry sky reproducing device.

Embodiment 2 assumes a situation where the starry sky reproducing deviceis used in a conventional dome-shaped projection planetarium 4. Withsettling plural starry sky reproducing sheets 200, which are rolled on adrum 11, on a light box 100 automatically, an observation program isprovided in which observers are able to observe plural starry skiesthrough telescopes and cameras. In Embodiment 2, every observer'sprevious experience of astronomical observation and previous experiencewith the starry sky reproducing device can be referred to and recorded,whereby the effect brought about by the device is increased, andsuitable observation experience of starry skies can be provided to everyobserver. The observation program consists of 5 sections.

The 1st section provides astronomical observation to observeconstellations and paths of stars with naked eyes. The 2nd sectionprovides detailed observation of a specific constellation throughbinoculars. The 3rd section provides detailed observation of galaxiesand star clusters which are in a narrow area in the celestial space withoperation of a telescope. The 4th section provides photographicobservation of dark stars and stars having wavelengths which are unableto be observed through naked eyes, with cameras which settled onastronomical telescopes. Lastly, the 5th section provides observation ofthe moon and planets.

Embodiment 3 use an assembly air dome to provide starry sky observationat schools where do not have planetarium in the town.

Embodiment 1

This section describes Embodiment 1 by referring to FIGS. 1-21.Corresponding elements based on the same technical idea are indicated bysame reference numerals in the figures including those which explainEmbodiments 2 and 3 mentioned below.

Plural magnets 101 are embedded at the edge face at the opening of abox-shaped light box 100. A transparent plate 102 is fixed on the lightbox 100 covering the opening of the box 100. A frame-shaped installationframe 103 made of iron which covers the periphery of the transparentplate 102 is attracted to the light box 100 by attractive force of themagnets 101. The installation frame 103 is shaped so that the lightpassing the transparent plate 102 can not be leaked out of the frame103.

A starry sky reproducing sheet 200 is set between the transparent plate102 and the installation frame 103, and is held by the attractive forceof the magnets 101. The attractive force of the magnets 101 is setappropriately so that users can take off the installation frame 103 andexchange the starry sky reproducing sheet 200.

A body board 300 is set inside the bottom plate of the light box 100.The body board 300 is contains a one-chip CPU 301, an LED driving IC 302and a power supply IC 303. When a voltage is applied by an externalpower supply 106, the one-chip CPU 301 is reset and a program which hasbeen recorded in the internal ROM in advance starts. Detailedexplanation about the operation of the one-chip CPU 301 as amicroprocessor is omitted because it is commonly used. The configurationof variables recorded in the ROM and the operation of the programrecorded in the ROM will be illustrated later.

As shown in FIG. 3, 64 backlight LEDs 105 are attached in aneight-by-eight matrix on the inside surface of the light box 100opposite to the transparent plate 102. The LEDs forms 16 square units,which are arranged in four columns in the a-direction and in four rowsin the b-direction as shown in the figure. Each of the square unitsconsists of four LEDs 105 in a two-by-two matrix. Each of the 64backlight LEDs 105 is denoted by a value among 1-4 in the a-direction, avalue among 1-4 in the b-direction and a serial number within each unit,like “LED 123” in this specification.

The backlight LEDs 105 are connected to the body board 300. The one-chipCPU 301 controls lighting of the backlight LEDs 105 included in eachunit by the LED driving IC 302 by a PWM control by which the intensityof the LEDs 105 are varied. The one-chip CPU 301 reproduces naturaltwinkling of stars by increasing and decreasing brightness of the 16units of the LEDs 105 at different timing and performs a highlightindication by selectively lighting up a part of the units brightly.Though the backlight is composed of the backlight LEDs 105 and the LEDdrive IC 302 in the present embodiment, the backlight can be composed ofan organic EL driver IC and organic EL elements which emit light in aplanar manner. In that case, it is possible to make the distance betweenthe organic EL elements and the transparent plate 102 as small as theyare almost in contact with each other because the organic EL elementsemit light in a planar manner. Consequently, the light box 100 can bemade thinner and it can be hung on a wall as an interior decoration whenit is not used for astronomical observation.

Moreover, a UV lamp 109 which contains multiple ultraviolet LEDs isfixed on the end portion of a lamp arm 107 which protrudes from the topsurface of the light box 100. The UV lamp 109 contains one wide-angle UVlamp (UV1) which irradiates the whole area (U1) where stars arereproduced on the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 widely and 16narrow-angle UV lamps (UV11-44) which irradiate 16 areas (U11-44) of thestarry sky reproducing sheet 200 individually. The starry skyreproducing sheet 200 is divided into the 16 areas in a four-by-fourmatrix, namely, the 16 areas are arranged in four columns in thea-direction and in four rows in the b-direction as shown in the figure.They are denoted as U11-44, by a value among 1-4 in the a-direction anda value among 1-4 in the b-direction.

The one-chip CPU 301 controls lighting of the wide-angle UV lamp (UV1)and the narrow-angle UV lamps (UV11-44) by the LED driving IC 302 by aPWM control. Thus, ultraviolet rays irradiate the entire surface of thestarry sky reproducing sheet 200 and the 16 areas at given illuminances.Further, the area corresponding to each of the units of the backlightLEDs 105 and each of the irradiation areas of the narrow-angle UV lampsare set identical when viewed from the front. It is preferable that theultraviolet LEDs should have a visible-light cut-off filter to cutvisible-light leakage, whereby the starry sky does not become brightexcessively.

Further, an infrared sensor 108 (IR) is fixed on the end portion of thelamp arm 107. If the infrared sensor 108 receives an infrared signalwhich emitted from an infrared remote controller 111 having multipleinput keys (“0”-“9”, “+”, and “−”), the signal is input into theone-chip CPU 301 in the body board 300 and predetermined operationcorresponding to the operation key is started.

A light pollution lamp 110 (LED 0) which reproduces the brightness ofthe sky in the city by irradiating the entire surface of the starry skyreproducing sheet 200 faintly is also fixed on the end portion of thelamp arm 107. In the same manner as the backlight LEDs 105, the lightpollution lamp 110 is connected to the body board 300 and the lightingthereof is controlled by the one-chip CPU 301 and the LED driving IC302.

A brightness adjusting volume controller 304 is fixed on the side of thelight box 100. The brightness adjusting volume controller 304 isconnected to the body board 300 and its set value is input to theone-chip CPU 301 through an A/D converter contained the one-chip CPU301.

An illuminance sensor 307 which measures brightness in the surroundingis fixed on the side of the light box 100. The illuminance sensor 307 isconnected to the body board 300 and its measured value is input to theone-chip 301 through the A/D converter contained in the one-chip CPU301. Then, the measured value can be reflected to the control of thestarry sky reproducing device 1 such as preventing unintended operationin the daytime.

Eight white-chip LEDs 305 (LED1-LED8) are fixed at the bottom of thebody board 300. The one-chip CPU 301 controls lighting of eachwhite-chip LED 305 independently by a PWM control by the LED driving IC302. The light emitting surfaces of the white-chip LEDs 305 are exposedoutside from the LED opening window 104 which is formed at the bottom ofthe light box 100.

Four contact probes 306 a-306 d are also fixed at the bottom of the bodyboard 300. The contact probe 306 a is connected to a +5V power sourceand the contact probe 306 b is connected to the ground. The contactprobe 306 c is connected to an SD signal source of the one-chip CPU 301for data transmission. The contact probe 306 d is connected to an SAsignal source of the one-chip CPU 301 for data transmission. The endportions of the contact probes 306 a-306 d are exposed outside from theLED opening window 104 which is formed at the bottom of the light boxtogether with the white-chip LEDs 305. The end portions are brought intocontact with contact pads 209 a to 209 d on the contact board 206, whichis described below, and the one-chip CPU 301 reads information about thestarry sky reproducing sheet 200 recorded in a nonvolatile memory 208when the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 is installed.

The white-chip LEDs 305 correspond to the light emitting elementscontained in Claim 2. The one-chip CPU 301, the LED driving IC 302, andthe function implemented by the program which is described belowcorrespond to the light-emitting element lighting control meanscontained in Claim 2.

The UV lamps 109 correspond to the UV lamp contained in Claim 3. Theone-chip CPU 301, the LED driving IC 302, and the function implementedby the program which will be described below correspond to the UV-lamplighting control means contained in Claim 3.

The light box 100 corresponds to the illumination panel contained inClaim 6. Specifically, the backlight LEDs 105 correspond to thetransmission-light emitting elements contained in Claim 6. The one-chipCPU 301, the LED driving IC 302, and the function controlling lightingof the backlight LEDs 105 by the program which will be described belowcorrespond to the illumination panel lighting control means contained inClaim 6.

The set of the transparent plate 102 and the light box 100 containingthe body board 300 and the white-chip LEDs 305 corresponds to the baseframe contained in Claim 8. The set of the magnets 101, the installationframe 103, and the LED opening window 104 formed on the light box 100corresponds to the sheet installation means contained in Claim 8.

Next, explanation on the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 is presentedwith reference to FIG. 5-10. The starry sky reproducing sheet 220 inthis embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, reproduces the Orion, which is arepresentative constellation in winter. The Orion nebula shown in FIG. 9is especially introduced in an explanation program as a suitable area tobe observe with an astronomical telescope.

The starry sky reproducing sheet 200 is attachable to and detachablefrom the light box 100. A user selects one of the plural starry skyreproducing sheets 200 that reproduce various areas of the starry skiesand installs it on the light box 100. In the present embodiment, astarry sky reproducing sheet of the Orion is used; however, starry skyreproducing sheets reproducing other constellations are used in the sameway. The side of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 facing thetransparent plate 102 is defined as the outside, and the opposite sidefacing toward the observer is defined as the inside. The same applies tofollowing explanations of the other embodiments.

A fiber integrating part 205 collecting the end portions of pluralplastic optical fibers 230 (f1-f8) is formed under the starry skyreproducing sheet 200. A contact board 206 is attached to a fiberintegrating part 205 with elastic rubber adhesive 207. Pluraloptical-fiber insertion holes 212 are formed on the contact board 206.End portions of the plastic optical fibers 230 are inserted and fixed inthe holes 212.

In the starry sky reproducing sheet of the Orion in this embodiment, theplastic optical fibers f1-f6 are used to reproduce the major starshaving magnitudes of 0.18-2.75 and composing the Orion. Among them, theplastic optical fiber f3 branches to three plastic optical fibers f3a-f3 c at the branching point 231 on the midway, and they reproducethree stars having approximately the same brightness and located nearthe belt of the Orion.

The plastic optical fibers f1-f6 are laid on the outside surface of thestarry sky reproducing sheet 200 from the fiber integrating part 205 tothe positions of individual stars. The fibers f1-f6 are put into theinside of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 at the positions ofindividual stars through the through holes made on the starry skyreproducing sheet 200. Further, the fibers f1-f6 are fixed to the sheet200 at the outside of the through holes with transparent adhesive, withthe edge surfaces of the fibers f1-f6 exposed to the inside.

The plastic optical fiber f7 is used to display the lines connecting thestars in the constellation for indicating the shape of the Orion. Theplastic optical fiber f8 is used to display the line indicating aspecific area to be observed with magnified by an astronomicaltelescope.

The plastic optical fiber 230 is distinguished from a glass opticalfiber in that the light leaks at a certain rate from the linear lightguiding part. The leaking rate can be adjusted by processing on thesurface such as by scratching. With regard to the plastic optical fibersf1-f6 to reproduce stars, the amounts of the leaking light are set tozero. With regard to the plastic optical fibers f7 and f8 to be used asthe light-emitting lines, the amounts of the leaking light are increasedso that the fibers emit light in the linear shape.

The routes along which the plastic optical fibers f7 and f8 are mountedare as follows: first, the plastic optical fibers f7 and f8 are laid onthe outside surface of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200. Second,they are put into the inside of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200through the through holes. Third, they are laid on the inside surfacealong prescribed routes. Fourth, they return to the outside of thestarry sky reproducing sheet 200 through the through holes again. Bysetting such routes repeatedly, even discontinuous lines can bereproduced with the fibers. The terminal edges of the fibers are put outon the outside of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 not to beconspicuous. Among the plastic optical fibers, fibers f1-f6 correspondto the optical fibers contained in Claim 2.

Further, a star filter 210 made of transparent resin is fixed under thecontact board 206. Printed filters 211 corresponding to the colors ofthe stars and the lines connecting the stars in the constellation whichare to be reproduced with the plastic optical fibers 230 are formed onthe surface of the star filter 210 beneath the optical-fiber insertionholes 212.

When the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 is installed to the light box100, the fiber integrating part 205 is bended at a right angle withrespect to the surface of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200, and heldbetween the light emitting surfaces of the white-chip LEDs 305 and theinstallation frame 103. The peripheral edges of the contact board 206are fitted on and positioned by the wall edges of the LED opening window104 on the undersurface of the light box 100.

Thus, each edge surfaces of the plural plastic optical fibers 230 arelocated respectively at positions facing the light emitting surface ofthe white-chip LEDs 305. Further, the end portions of the contact probes306 a to 306 d of the body board 300 are brought into contact with thecontact pads 209 a to 209 d of the contact board 206 respectively, andthey provide electric contacts therebetween.

Since the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 has the above-describedstructure, when the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 is installed to thelight box 100 and the white-chip LEDs 305 are turned on, the lightemitted from the light emitting surfaces of the white-chip LEDs 305 iscolored by the printed filters 211 of the star filter 210, and thenenter the edge surfaces of the plastic optical fibers 230 fixed to theoptical-fiber insertion holes 212. The beams which have entered the edgesurfaces are guided in the optical fibers 230. Among them, with respectto the fibers f1-f6, beams are emitted from the other edge surfaces ofthe plastic optical fibers 230 at the positions of the stars in theconstellation, to be observed as point-shaped light-emitting elementstars. With respect to the fibers f7 and f8 the light leaking from theparts of the fibers laying on the inside surface of the starry skyreproducing sheet 200 is observed as linear light-emitting lines. Thelight-emitting element stars reproduced by the fibers f1-f6 correspondto the light-emitting element stars contained in Claim 2.

The laminated sheet 220 of the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 has alaminate structure shown in the partial cross section in FIG. 5. Fromthe inside to the outside, a 1st paper layer 201, an aluminum foil layer202, a 2nd paper layer 203, and a 3rd paper layer 204 are laminated andstuck together with flame retardant glues.

The 1st paper layer 201, the 2nd paper layer 203, and the 3rd paperlayer 204 are respectively about 0.15-mm thick white flame retardantpaper sheets, and have self-extinguishing property by containingaluminum hydroxide. In this embodiment, the light transmittance of thepaper is about 16%, which corresponds to a light reduction effect of twomagnitudes. Among the layers, at least the 1st paper layer 201 desirablyincludes no fluorescent materials which emit light by ultravioletirradiation. The aluminum foil layer 202 desirably has a thickness aboutnine micrometers so that the transmittance thereof is 0% and the layer202 can block off the light perfectly.

The 1st paper layer 201, the aluminum foil layer 202, the 2nd paperlayer 203, and the 3rd paper layer 204 correspond to the light reducingsheets contained in Claim 1. Embodiment 1 corresponds to a case in whichClaim 1 is realized with N=4.

As shown in FIG. 8, many holes are made on the laminated sheet 220 toreproduce 3rd to 4th magnitude stars (H1) through 8th to 9th magnitudestars (H6) contained in the starry sky to be reproduce (the Orion inthis embodiment). These holes are classified into three groups dependingon which layers each hole passes through, among the 1st paper layer 201,the aluminum foil layer 202, the 2nd paper layer 203, and the 3rd paperlayer 204. Specifically, the holes for the 3rd to 4th magnitude stars(H1) and those for the 4th to 5th magnitude stars (H2) belong to the 3rdgroup; the holes for the 5th to 6th magnitude stars (H3) and those forthe 6th to 7th magnitude stars (H4) belong to the 2nd group; and theholes for the 7th to 8th magnitude stars (H5) and those for the 8th to9th magnitude stars (H6) belong to the 1st group. Among these, the holesH1, H3, and H5 are respectively 0.3 mm in diameter. The holes H2, H4,and H6 are respectively 0.19 mm in diameter. The area ratio between thetwo sizes of holes is 2.51, whereby the holes belonging to the samegroup produces difference of one magnitude by the difference of thediameters.

FIG. 10 is a cross section of the laminated sheet 220 which shows whatkind of structure the holes H1, H3 and H5 have. Holes 212 in the 1stgroup pass through the 1st paper layer 201 and the aluminum foil layer202. Holes 213 in the 2nd group pass through the 1st paper layer 201,the aluminum foil layer 202, and the 2nd paper layer 203. Holes 214 inthe 3rd group pass through the 1st paper layer 201, the aluminum foillayer 202, the 2nd paper layer 203, and the 3rd paper layer 204. On thesurface of the 2nd paper layer 203, 1st filter printings 215 havingprescribed colors are formed around the axes of the holes 212 in the 1stgroup, covering the holes 212 in the 1st group. The 1st filter printings215 give the prescribed colors to the light which passes along the axesof the holes 212 in the 1st group.

In the same way, on the surface of the 3rd paper layer 204, 2nd filterprintings 216 having prescribed colors are formed around the axes of theholes 213 in the 2nd group covering the holes 213 in the 2nd group. The2nd filter printings 216 give the prescribed colors to the light whichpasses along the axes of the holes 213 in the 2nd group.

In the same way, filter seals 217 are stuck on the 3rd paper layer 204,covering the holes 214 in the 3rd group formed on the 3rd paper layer204. The filter seals 217 give prescribed colors to the light whichpasses along the axes of the holes 214 in the 3rd group.

Then, the method to make these holes is explained. After the 1st paperlayer 201 and the aluminum foil layer 202 are stuck to each other, theholes 212 in the 1st group are made by insertion or penetration ofprocessing needles having prescribed diameters from either the surfaceof the 1st paper layer 201 or the surface of the aluminum foil layer 202with drilling apparatus, which is not illustrated in figures.

Further, after the holes 212 in the 1st group are made and the 2nd paperlayer 203 is stuck to the aluminum foil layer 202, the holes 213 in the2nd group are made by insertion or penetration of processing needleshaving prescribed diameters from either the surface of the 1st paperlayer 201 or the surface of the 2nd paper layer 203 with the drillingapparatus.

Further, after the holes 213 in the second group are made and the 3rdpaper layer 204 is stuck to the 2nd paper layer 203, the holes 214 inthe 3rd group are made by insertion or penetration of processing needleshaving prescribed diameters from either the surface of the 1st paperlayer 201 or the surface of the 3rd paper layer 204 with the drillingapparatus.

The holes 212 in the 1st group, the holes 213 in the 2nd group, and theholes 214 in the 3rd group are respectively classified based on thecolors of the stars to be reproduced by the holes. During the formationof the holes in each of the groups, all holes corresponding to a samecolor may be formed first, and then coloring paint may be introducedfrom the surface of the 1st paper layer 201 to fill the holescorresponding to the same color.

Further, a protective coating which has optical transparency andprotects a surface against dew condensation and oxidation may be appliedto all over the surface of the 1st paper layer 201 after making theholes 214 in the 3rd group. A part of the protective coating fills theholes, and thus forms light guiding paths which guide the light afterdried. The protective coating prevents the layers from being separatedwhen bonding between the layers is incomplete, and also prevents theformed holes from getting smaller as time goes on to keep the brightnessof the stars.

The light emitted from the backlight LEDs 105 reaches the surface of the3rd paper layer 204 and passes along the axes of the holes 212 in the1st group, the holes 213 in the 2nd group, and the holes 214 in the 3rdgroup, and it passes the holes penetrating the layers or the lightguiding paths. Then, the light is emitted from the holes opened in the1st paper layer 201, and finally reaches the observer's eyes.

While the light thus passes the elements of the sheet 220, such as thepaper sheets and filters, through the holes, the light is subjected tothe light reduction and the coloring effects of the elements. Thus, thelight is observed by the observer as the transmitted-light stars havingvarious colors and brightnesses.

Specifically, when the transmitted-light stars reproduced by the holesH1 is set as a standard, the holes H2 attenuate the light by themagnitude of +1 due to the difference in diameter. The holes H3attenuate the light by the magnitude of +2 due to the light reduction bythe 3rd paper layer 204, although the holes H3 have the same diameter asthe holes H1. The holes H4 attenuate the light by the magnitude of +3 intotal due to the difference in diameter and the light reduction by the3rd paper layer 204. The holes H5 attenuate the light by the magnitudeof +4 due to the light reduction by the 2nd paper layer 203 and the 3rdpaper layer 204, although the holes H5 have the same diameter as theholes H1. The holes H6 attenuate the light by the magnitude of +5 intotal due the difference in the diameter from the holes H5. Thetransmitted-light stars produced by the holes correspond to thetransmitted-light stars contained in above-described Claims.

Here, the laminated sheet 220 in the embodiment described abovecorresponds to the starry sky reproducing sheet contained in Claim 1with N=4. The holes 212 in the 1st group correspond to the L-layertransmission holes with L=2 (two layers: the 1st paper layer 201 and thealuminum foil layer 202). The holes 213 in the 2nd group correspond tothe M-layer transmission holes with M=3 (three layers: the 1st paperlayer 201, the aluminum foil layer 202 and the 2nd paper layer 203). Thelights passing along the axis of the holes 212 in the 1st group and theholes 213 in the 2nd group correspond to the L-layer transmitted beamsand the M-layer transmitted beams, respectively.

The values of N, L, and M are not limited to those adopted in thisembodiment. For example, when N=6 is adopted, the stars having widerrange of magnitude can be reproduced as transmitted-light stars formedwith the use of five paper layers, including transmitted-light star inthe 1st to 5th groups.

Further, in this embodiment, the starry sky reproducing sheet 200contains the 1st paper layer 201, the aluminum foil layer 202, the 2ndpaper layer 203, and the 3rd paper layer 204, laminated in this orderfrom the inside; however the laminated structure is not limited thereto.FIG. 54 shows a cross section of a 2nd example of the laminated sheet220. The laminated sheet 220 contains the aluminum foil layer 221, the1st paper layer 222, the 2nd paper layer 223 and the 3rd paper layer,laminated in this order from the inside. Minute light transmitting holes225 may be made on the aluminum foil layer 221 in advance by etching,for example, whereby the laminated sheet 220 may be made efficientlybecause the drilling process can be omitted. The aluminum foil layer 221may be a laminate material made of a transparent PET film and analuminum foil. If light transmission holes are made by etching on thealuminum foil, the holes work as light transmitting paths through whichlight passes.

There are plural methods to make the minute light transmission holes 225in the aluminum foil layer 221 by etching. In the first method, theholes can be made by applying a liquid containing an etching agent,which can cause chemical reaction with aluminum and remove aluminum,onto the surface of the aluminum foil layer 221 with the use of anink-jet printer, and thus by removing aluminum in the printed areathrough etching. In the second method, for formation of the holes, aresist layer is formed by application of a resist material, which doesnot react to an etching agent, onto the surface of the aluminum foillayer 221. Then, a liquid containing a material which can cause chemicalreaction with the resist material and remove a part of the resist layeris applied onto the resist layer with the use of an ink-jet printer,whereby the resist material in the printed area is removed. Further,aluminum in the area where the resist material has been removed isremoved by soaking the aluminum foil layer 221 in a liquid containingthe etching agent.

In the methods making the light-transmission holes 225 in the aluminumfoil by etching, the holes are made not through a mechanical process butthrough an etching process, and therefore the method is suitable formaking many minute holes. The laminated sheet 220 in this second examplecorresponds to the laminated sheet contained Claim 1 with N=4. The holes225 correspond to the L-layer transmission holes with L=1 (one layer:the aluminum foil layer 221). The holes 226 correspond to the M-L-layertransmission holes with M=2 (two layers: the aluminum foil layer 221 andthe 1st paper layer 222). The light passing along the axes of the holes225 and 226 correspond to the L-layer transmitted beams and M-layertransmitted beams, respectively.

FIG. 55 shows a cross section of a 3rd example of the laminated sheet220. The laminated sheet 220 contains the 1st paper layer 229, thealuminum foil layer 230, the 2nd paper layer 231 and the 3rd paper layer232, laminated in this order from the inside. Minute light-transmissionholes 233 may be formed in the aluminum foil layer 230 by, for example,etching in advance. In this case, the light passing through the holes233 is subjected to the highest light reduction by the layers, and isdiffused by the 1st paper layer 229 after passing through the holes 233unlike the light passing through other light-transmission holes 234penetrating the layers to the inside of the laminated sheet 220. Thus,the light passing the holes 233 is suitable for reproducing thecelestial objects not observed as stellar-shaped objects, like diffusenebulas.

The laminated sheet 220 according to any of the above-described threeexamples reproduces a dark background of the starry sky by the aluminumfoil (202, 221, or 230) which block off the light perfectly. However,the present invention is not limited thereto; a metal foil other thanthe aluminum foil and/or a sheet that has a black printed layer havingsufficiently low light transmittance on the surface thereof may be usedto reproduce the dark background of the starry sky.

FIG. 56 shows a cross section of a 4th example of the laminated sheet.In this example, sheets having, on the surfaces thereof, black layershaving sufficiently low light transmittance of about 5% are used. Thelaminated sheet 220 contains a 1st paper layer 235, a 2nd paper layer236, a 3rd paper layer 237, and a 4th paper layer 238, laminated in thisorder from the inside. A 1st light shielding print 235 a is printed onthe inside surface of the 1st paper layer 235, and the 2nd lightshielding print 235 b is printed on the outside surface of the 1st paperlayer 235. The 3rd light shielding print 236 a is printed on the insidesurface of the 2nd paper layer 236, and the 4th light shielding print isprinted on the outside surface of the 2nd paper layer 236. The totaltransmittance of the laminated sheet 220 is determined by, in additionto the transmittances of the material of the paper layers 235-238 (16%),the transmittance of the four shielding prints 235 a-235 d.

FIG. 57 shows the states of the elements on the laminated sheet 220 ofthe 4th example when they are observed with the room light. FIG. 58shows the states of the elements of the laminated sheet 220 when theyare observed with the light from the light box 100. FIG. 59 shows thetransmittances of the 1st to 4th paper layers 235-238 and the 1st to 4thlight shielding prints 235 a-236 b at each of the elements. Thetransmittances are set so that the elements may be displayed in thestates shown in FIGS. 57 and 58. FIG. 59 also shows the transmittancesof the elements for the light from the light box 100 and theirreflectance for the room light. In this embodiment, we set thereflectivity and transmittance to be equal.

As shown in FIG. 59, the reflectance of the 1st light shielding print235 a is set so that the non-stellar celestial objects like the galaxy2355 and the diffuse nebula 2356, the explaining information like theline 2351 showing a constellation and the star name 2350, and thelandscapes on the ground like the mountain 2357 and the hotel window2358 are observed in the states shown in FIG. 57.

The transmittances of the 2nd light shielding print 235 b, the 3rd lightshielding print 236 a, and the 4th light shielding print 236 b are setas follows in order that the laminate sheet 220 may be observed in thestate shown in FIG. 58 when they are observed with the room light turnedoff: the total transmittance determined by the product of thetransmittances and light reduction ratio of the materials of the 1st to4th paper layers 235 a-236 b and the transmittances of the 1st to 4thlight shielding prints 235 a-236 b is observed in the state shown inFIG. 59 with respect to the light illuminating the back surface of thelaminated sheet 220.

Specifically, the transmittance at the position of the background sky2352 is set about 0.00000002 to reproduce a sufficiently dark backgroundwhen it is observed with the backlight with the room light turned off.Further, the transmittances at the positions of the star name 2350 andthe shining star 2353 are set as low as that of the background sky 2352.Thus, these elements are not recognized by being indistinguishable fromthe background sky 2352 when they are observed with the backlight.

Then, the transmittances at the positions of the galaxy 2355 and thediffuse nebula 2356 are set about six times higher than thetransmittance at the position of the background sky 2352 so that theymay be observed slightly shining. Further, the hotel window 2358 is setto be observed about twice as bright as the galaxy 2355. The mountain2357 is set darker than the background sky 2352, whereby the blackmountain 2357 is reproduced against the galaxy 2355 and the backgroundstarry sky 2352.

The above-presented example show adjustment of the transmittances of the1st 4th light shielding prints 235 a-236 b; however, colors for printingon the layers can also be selected so as to adjust the coloring of thelight reflected on the 1st light shielding print 235 a and the coloringof the light transmitted through the whole laminated sheet 220.

Further, the above-presented example shows adjustment of thetransmittance of the 1st to 4th light shielding prints 235 a-236 b onthe 1st paper layer 235 and the 2nd paper layer 236; however, the 2ndpaper layer may be omitted. In this case, display by reflected light maybe performed with the use of the 1st paper layer and display bytransmitted light may be performed by adjustment of the 2nd lightshielding print 235 b.

In a 4th example of the laminated sheet 220, the holes in the 1st groupare made to penetrate the 1st paper layer 235 and the 2nd paper layer236 after the 1st paper layer 235 and the 2nd paper layer 236 are stuckto each other. After the holes in the 1st group are made, the 3rd paperlayer 237 is stuck, and then the holes in the 2nd group are made topenetrate the 1st paper layer 235, the 2nd paper layer 236, and the 3rdpaper layer 237. After the holes in the 2nd group are made, the 4thpaper layer 238 is stuck, and then the holes in the 3rd group are madeto penetrate the 1st paper layer 235, the 2nd paper layer 236, the 3rdpaper layer 237, and the 4th paper layer 238.

Thus, the 4th example of the laminated sheet 220 has an effect thatstars having a wide range of magnitudes can be reproduced astransmitted-light stars as well as the 1st example of the laminatedsheet 220. In addition, the observer can observe landscapes such asmountains and non-stellar celestial objects such as diffuse nebulas andthe galaxies with transmitted-light stars at the same time. Therefore,it has an effect that a more real starry sky can be reproduced.

In this way, the 4th example of the laminated sheet 220 can be enjoyedas a picture of a beautiful starry sky with indoor reflected visiblelight in the daytime, and it works as an excellent starry skyreproducing device 1 by which a beautiful starry sky can be enjoyed withthe transmission of the backlight in a dark room at night. Needless tosay, stars having a still wider range of magnitudes can be reproduced ifthe laminated sheet 220 further contains the light-emitting elementstars or below-described printed luminous stars, as in the case of the1st example of the laminated sheet 220.

FIG. 60 shows a 5th example of the laminated sheet 220. As the number ofthe laminated layers increases, the depths of the transmission holes mayget deeper in comparison with their diameters. Then, there arises aproblem that brightness of the transmitted-light stars may besignificantly changed by the influence of the change in “directivity”when the observation angle from the inside of the laminated sheet 220 ischanged. To solve the problem, after transmitted-light stars whichpasses a certain number or of layers or more are made penetrating thelayers, optical fibers 239 which are as long as the transmission holesmay be inserted and fixed in the holes. Then, the incident light whichenters the outside edge surfaces of the optical fibers 239 is guided bythe optical fibers 239 to the inside edge surfaces thereof, whereby theinfluence of directivity on observation from the inside is decreased.

Next, explanation on the printed luminous stars formed on the surface ofthe starry sky reproducing sheet 200 by a printing process will bepresented. As shown in FIG. 8, in order to reproduce 9th-10th magnitudestars (U1) through the 14th-15th magnitude stars (U6) contained in thestarry sky to be reproduced (the Orion in this embodiment), minute dotsare printed on the inside surface of the 1st paper layer 201 with afluorescent ink 218 which emits light by ultraviolet irradiation. Thedots can be observed as printed luminous stars by emitting light whenirradiated with ultraviolet rays emitted from the UV lamp 109.

In this way, the observer observing the laminated sheet 220 from theinside can observe the light-emitting element stars (f1-f6) reproducedby the light emitted from the white-chip LEDs 305, the transmitted-lightstars (H1-H6) reproduced by the light emitted from the backlight LEDs105 which irradiates the laminated sheet 220 from the outside, and theprinted luminous stars (U1-U6) reproduced by the light emitted byultraviolet irradiation by the UV lamp 109.

In this embodiment, the 1st paper layer 201 of the laminated sheet 220is made of white flame-retardant paper; however, the layer 201 is notlimited thereto. The layer 201 need not be made of flame-retardantpaper, and a black sheet material or a white sheet material having ablack print on the inside surface thereof may also be used. Printing maybe applied on the aluminum foil layer instead of the 1st paper layer 201as in the 2nd examples of the laminated sheet 220 described later. Inthis case, desirably, a corona treatment should be applied on thealuminum foil surface in order to improve the printing performance withthe fluorescent ink 218. It is also desirable that, after printing withthe fluorescent ink 218, the surface of the aluminum foil should becoated with a transparent protective paint to prevent the fluorescentink 218 from peeling off after dried.

This configuration has the following effects. The surface of thelaminated sheet illuminated with the light from the UV lamp isilluminated also with visible light because the light from the UV lampcontains a small visible component. Thus, the area of “sky”, which isnot occupied by stars and should be completely dark intrinsically, emitlight slightly, and minute stars can not be observed. Likewise, if thepaper layer contains an ingredient which emits light by the ultravioletirradiation, the paper layer itself emits light and minute stars can notbe observed. However, rise in luminance in the area of “sky” by thevisible light can be suppressed if the surface of the 1st paper layer201 of the laminated sheet 220 is black. Reflection of ultraviolet lightfrom the UV lamp 109 is also suppressed and does not prevent observationof the starry sky reproduction sheet by the observers. Further,unintended light emission from the clothes of the observers and theobjects nearby by the reflected ultraviolet light is prevented. In thecase where the printing is applied on the aluminum foil, the sameeffects are obtained because the aluminum foil does not emit light byultraviolet light irradiation.

In this embodiment, the printed luminous stars are formed on the insidesurface of the 1st paper layer 201 of the laminated sheet 220; however,the configuration is not limited thereto. For example, the printedluminous stars can be formed on a surface of a removablelight-transmitting sheet, and the sheet can be used with being attachedor permanently fixed on the surface of the laminated sheet 220 on theobserver side when reproduction by the printed luminous stars isdemanded. In this way, formation of the printed luminous stars on thesurface of the 1st paper layer 201 of the laminated sheet 220 can beomitted. Thus, it is easy to print objects that can be observed withvisible light such as constellation pictures on the surface of the 1stpaper layer 201, whereby the starry sky reproducing device would besuitable to be used as an interior decoration during the daytime whenthe device is not used for celestial observation.

Printing with the fluorescent ink is performed by an ink-jet printer.Details about the ink-jet printer are not explained in thisspecification because it is commonly used. The ink-jet printer hasplural ink cartridges which can be filled with different kinds of inksrespectively, an ink head having plural discharge nozzles whichdischarge the inks in the ink cartridges respectively as tiny droplets,a sheet transport mechanism, and an ink head transport means whichtransport the ink head in the direction orthogonal to the direction ofthe sheet transportation. The ink-jet printer discharges the inkdroplets from more than one discharge nozzle among the plural dischargenozzles at a prescribed timing while moving the ink head andtransporting the sheet. Then, printing is performed by putting thedischarged droplets on the sheet on any positions on the sheet and inany combinations of the inks. In this embodiment, the ink-jet printerhaving twenty-one ink cartridges at maximum and an ink head is used.

Then, explanation on a first method to form the printed luminous starsin this embodiment is presented. As shown in FIG. 13, the printedluminous stars are printed with fluorescent inks n respective sizes,corresponding to the magnitude of the stars to be reproduced (sixmagnitude grades: 9th-10th magnitude stars (U1), 10th-11th magnitudestars (U2), 11th-12th magnitude stars (U3), 12th-13th magnitude stars(U4), 13th-14th magnitude stars (U5), and 14th-15th magnitude stars(U6)) and corresponding to their colors (seven kinds by spectral types:O, B, A, F, G, K and M types).

Thus, twenty-one kinds of fluorescent inks are used to form the printedluminous stars in total: three kinds of inks are used to reproduce thestars in every two magnitude grades and seven kinds of inks are used torepresent the colors of the stars. Two groups of stars having differentbrightnesses by one magnitude can be reproduced with the same inkdepending on the printing size: the brighter stars are reproduce byprinted dots having a diameter of 0.3 mm while the darker ones arereproduced by printed dots having a diameter of 0.19 mm.

In the conventional technology, patterns having various colors andluminances are printed by combination of three kinds of fluorescent inkswhich respectively emit three primary colors of light of red, green, andblue when irradiated with ultraviolet rays. Meanwhile, it is necessaryto print dots as minutely as possible for the present starry skyreproducing device. Therefore printing with smallest droplets which aredischarged from the ink head should be desirably adopted.

However, although it is necessary to adjust the size of the droplets ina small range in order to reproduce subtle differences of star colorswith the fluorescent inks of the three primary colors of light, it isdifficult to achieve the adjustment for the smallest droplets. Inaddition, the droplets of the fluorescent inks of plural colors areneeded to be shot on the same position precisely; or otherwise lighthaving the primary colors free from mixing is observed, whereby thestars are expressed differently from their intrinsic features. However,it is technologically difficult to shoot the smallest droplets from theplural ink heads on the same position with no displacement. Thus, thereare various problems to utilize the technology of the conventionalink-jet printer to reproduce the stars on the starry sky reproducingdevice.

However, in the examples disclosed in the present specification, starsare printed with one fluorescent ink among the plural kinds offluorescent inks prepared in accordance with the magnitudes and colorsof the stars to be reproduced. Thus, the above-described problems do notoccur even if the stars are printed with the smallest dropletsdischarged from the ink head. This effect is much more significant inprinting for the starry sky reproducing device than in printing ofordinary images because dots are mainly printed for the starry skyreproducing device.

Then, explanation on a second method to form the printed luminous starsis presented. In this method, the printed luminous stars are printedwith plural fluorescent inks and plural absorbing inks in combination,with the use of an ink-jet printer containing the two types of inks. Thefluorescent inks emit light having different colors and luminances whileeach of the absorbing inks changes the color and/or density of reflectedlight or transmitted light by absorbing light having a certainwavelength.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink head contains nine kinds ofinks including three kinds of fluorescent inks which emit lightcorresponding to the color of the F-type stars defined as the standardof “white” and six kinds of absorbing inks which give colorscorresponding to the colors of O-, B-, A-, G-, K- and M-type stars byabsorbing the light from the fluorescent inks. The absorbing inks arenot pigments but dyes, desirably. As shown in FIG. 14, printing isperformed, selecting the size of the dots, the fluorescent ink, and theabsorbing ink in accordance with the colors and the magnitudes of thestars to be reproduced.

In this method, printing is performed with the droplets discharged fromthe plural ink nozzles as in the conventional technique; however, theproblems that arise when the conventional technique is used do not arisebecause a single type of fluorescent ink is used to produce the light ofthe printed luminous stars. That is, if the printed patterns with thefluorescent ink and the absorbing ink are displaced from each other dueto the displacement of the positions where the inks are shot, thefunction of the absorbing ink is merely weakened in an analogue mannerwithout causing remarkably bad influences such that the light of theprimary colors are observed as in the case of the conventionaltechnique. In order to solve the problem of weakening of the function ofthe absorbing ink, setting the printing size of the absorbing ink alittle larger can make the absorbing ink work uniformly in the dotprinted with the fluorescent ink. In this case, since the absorbing inkemits no light, the size of the observed stars are determined by thesize of the dot printed with the fluorescent ink, whereby the effect ofreproducing minute dot-shaped stars with smallest droplets of a singleink is achieved as in the first method to form the printed luminousstars.

In addition, while an ink-jet printer which can use twenty-one kinds ofink cartridge is required in the first method to form the printedluminous stars, only nine kinds of ink cartridges are necessary in thesecond method to form the printed luminous stars. Thus, the secondmethod has a remarkable effect to reduce the types of the inks used forprinting.

In the second method to form the printed luminous stars, seven kinds offluorescent inks which emit light of the colors corresponding to the O-,B-, A-, F-, G-, K- and M-type stars and absorbing inks which have twodifferent concentrations are used in combination, instead of theabove-described combination. The absorbing inks used here work as lightreduction filters which attenuate the light from the fluorescent inks ina wide wavelength range homogeneously. Needless to say, the same effectsas in the method shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 are achieved also in thiscase.

Further, in the second method to form the printed luminous stars,printing by a 1st ink-jet printer containing the fluorescent inks andprinting by a 2nd ink-jet printer containing the absorbing inks may beperformed on an identical sheet. In this case, the problem ofdisplacement between the positions where the fluorescent inks and theabsorbing inks are shot can be solved by setting the printing size bythe absorbing ink a little larger, as mentioned above.

Then, a method to produce the laminated sheet 220 of this embodiment, orspecifically the laminated sheet 220 having the structure shown in FIG.10, is explained based on the flowchart show in FIG. 63. First, in stepS500, the star basic data “StarInfo” about the stars to be reproduced isobtained, which includes the position data “StarPos”, the brightnessdata “StarMag”, and the color data “Starcolor” from, for example,existing star catalogs. Then, the method proceeds to step S501.

The star basic data “StarInfo” may be prepared, as well as by obtainingit from the star catalogs, by extracting the images of stellar-shapedcelestial objects through image processing on images observed byTelescopes such as Subaru Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope orastronomical photographs taken by astronomy enthusiasts, and byextracting the position data “StarPos”, the brightness data “StarMag”,and the color data “StarColor”. Among them, the position data “StarPos”is calculated by adding relative brightnesses of the stars in an imageto the magnitude of a star serving as a standard in the image.

In this case, based on the prepared star basic data, an image ofnon-stellar celestial objects “NebraImage” containing celestial objectsthat are not recognized as stellar-shaped stars, such as diffuse nebulasand tails of the galaxies can be obtained by removing the contributionof the image of stellar-shaped stars from the original image throughimage processing. The method is not explained in detail here because itis a conventional technique commonly used in the field of astronomy. Inthe case where the image of non-stellar celestial objects “NebraImage”is thus obtained, in addition to the processes for production of thelaminated sheet 220 as described later, a process may be carried out inwhich printing with UV inks is applied on the surface of the 1st paperlayer 201 to reproduce light emission corresponding to the brightnessand the color shown by the image of non-stellar celestial objects“NebraImage”.

Alternatively, while the laminated sheet 220 having the structureaccording to the 4th example shown in FIG. 56 is produced, the 1st lightshielding printing 235 a, the 2nd light shielding printing 235 b, the3rd light shielding printing 236 a, and the 4th light shielding printing236 b may be formed through printing to give light-reduction and thecoloring effects for the light from the back side of the sheet 220 sothat the transmitted light is observed with the brightnesses and thecolors shown by the image of non-stellar celestial objects.

Next, a transmitted-light star information “SheetInfo” for the laminatedsheet 220 is obtained in step S501, and then the method proceeds to stepS502. The transmitted-light star information “SheetInfo” obtained instep S501 contains a sheet magnitude information “SheetMag” related tothe ratio of light reduction applied to the light passing through thetransmission holes by the laminated sheet, the hole diameter magnitudeinformation “HallMag” related to the magnitudes determined by thediameters of the transmission holes made in the sheet, the filter colorinformation “FilterColor” related to the colors of the filter printingscorresponding to the colors of the stars, and the filter magnitudeinformation “FilterMag” related to the ratio of the light reductionapplied to the transmitted light by the filter printings of respectivecolors. Specifically, the transmitted-light star information is asfollow.

In the sheet magnitude informations for the 2nd and 3rd paper layers“SheetMag (2nd paper layer)” and “SheetMag (3rd paper layer)”, lightreduction corresponding to the magnitude of +2 is represented by thesame value. With respect to the diameter number “Diallo” in the holediameter magnitude information “HallMag (Diallo)”, the largest diameterof 0.3 mm is represented as “Diallo=MaxDiallo=0”, and the transmissionholes having the diameter serve as a standard of the 0th magnituderepresented as “HallMag(0)”. The second largest diameter of 0.18 mm isrepresented as “Diallo=1”, and the transmission holes having thediameter correspond to a magnitude of +1 is represented as “HallMag(1)”.The maximum hole light reduction magnitude “HallMagMax” representing amagnitude corresponding to the highest light reduction, which isrealized with the holes having the smallest diameter, is defined as amagnitude of +2. When the colors of stars are represented by spectraltypes, the filter color information and filter magnitude information arerepresented as the “FilterColor (spectral type)” and

“FilterMag (spectral type)”. Specifically, “FilterMag (spectral type)”is defined as FilterMag (O-type)=magnitude 0.1, FilterMag(B-type)=magnitude 0.08, FilterMag (A-type)=magnitude 0.05, FilterMag(F-type)=magnitude 0, FilterMag (G-type)=magnitude 0.05, FilterMag(K-type)=magnitude 0.1, and FilterMag (M-type)=magnitude 0.2, for typesO, B, A, F, G, K and M, respectively. These values are mere examples forexplanation, and thus it goes without saying that appropriate valuescorresponding to the filter printings to be used are set.

Next, in step S502, for the plural hole groups made on the laminatedsheet 220, the ratios of the light reduction by the sheets which causethe light reduction effect on the light passing through the transmissionholes are calculated, or in other words, a total ratio of lightreduction “GunMag” by the sheets to be laminated after formation of thetransmission holes is calculated. Then, the method proceeds to stepS503.

Specifically, in the case of this embodiment, in step S502, therelationship “GunMag (1st group)=SheetMag (2nd paper layer)+SheetMag(3rd paper layer)=magnitude of 4” holds because the holes in the 1stgroup are subjected to the light reduction by the 2nd paper layer andthe 3rd paper layer. Likewise, the relationship “GunMag (the 2ndtype)=SheetMag (the 3rd paper layer)=magnitude of 2” holds because theholes in the 2nd group are subjected to the light reduction by the 3rdpaper layer. Further, the relationship “GunMag (the 3rd type)=magnitude0” holds because the holes of the 3rd type are subjected to the lightreduction not by the sheet, but by coloring of the seals, which is takeninto consideration as “FilterMag”.

Next, in step S503, the brightness of the brightest stars to bereproduced as transmitted-light stars on the laminated sheet 220 isdesignated as the transmitted-light star minimum magnitude “MagMin”. Thebrightness is contained in the star basic data. In the presentembodiment “MagMin=3rd magnitude” holds. Then, the method proceeds tostep S504.

Then, in steps S504 to S510, the following informations are obtained:the lamination information “SheetStack” on the sheets that thetransmission holes penetrate, the diameters of the transmission holes“HallDia”, and the colors of the filter printings “FilterColor”. Theinformations are contained in the transmitting-light star processinformation “WorkInfo”, which is required to reproduce the stars astransmitted-light stars, and are obtained based on the star basic data“StarInfo” and the transmitted-light star information “SheetInfo”. Thepositions where the transmission holes are to be formed are uniquelydetermined based on the “StarPos”, and therefore explanation on thepositions is omitted here.

Specifically, in step S504, one star to be handled is selected, and thecolor of the filter printing “FilterColor” and the filter magnitudeinformation “FilterMag” for the star is obtained based on the color ofthe star “StarColor”. Then, the method proceeds to step S505. Forexample, when the color of the star is “K-type”, the color of the filterprinting represented as “FilterColor (K-type)” and the filter magnitudeinformation is determined as “FilterMag (K-type)=0.1 magnitude”. Next,in step S505, the value of the filter magnitude information issubtracted from the brightness of the star, and the obtained value isset as the modified magnitude of the star “StarMag2”. Then, the methodproceeds to step S506.

Specifically, in step S506, when the brightness of the selected star isrepresented as “StarMag=magnitude 6”, the following calculation isperformed: StarMag2=StarMag−FilterMag (K-type)=magnitude 6−magnitude0.1=magnitude 5.9.

Next, in step S506, the difference between the modified magnitude of thestar “StarMag2” and the transmitted-light star minimum magnitude“MagMin” is calculated, as “SheetDecMag=StarMag 2−MagMin”. The obtainedvalue is set as the sheet light reduction magnitude “SheetDecMag”. Then,the method proceeds to step S507. In the case of the selected star, thefollowing calculation is performed in step S506: “SheetDecMag=magnitude5.9−magnitude 3=magnitude 2.9”.

Next, in step S507, the “SheetDecMag” is evaluated. If the value is anegative number, it means that a star brighter than thetransmitted-light star reproduced by the transmission hole having thelargest diameter is needed to be reproduced, and therefore it isdetermined that the star should be reproduced not as a transmitted-lightstar but as a light-emitting element star. Then, the calculation forreproducing the star as a transmitted-light star is finished, and stepS504 is performed again to handle another star. On the other hand, ifthe value of “SheetDecMag” is a positive number above 0, step S508 isperformed. In the case of the selected star, step S508 is performedbecause the value is not a negative number.

Then, in step S508, “SheetDecMag” is compared with the sum of “GunMag”of the group that is subjected to the highest light reduction by thesheets and the maximum hole light reduction magnitude “HallMagMax”. Ifthe “SheetDecMag” is larger, the result means that the star is darkerthan the darkest star which can be reproduced as a transmitted-lightstar, and it is determined that the star should be reproduced not as atransmitted-light star but as a printed luminous star. Then, thecalculation for reproducing the star as a transmitted-light star isfinished, and step S504 is performed again to handle another star. Onthe other hand, “SheetDecMag” is smaller, step S509 is performed.

In the case of the selected star, the value “SheetDecMag=magnitude 2.9”has been obtained, and the value is smaller by 6 magnitudes than the sumof the value “GunMag=magnitude 4” of the group subjected to the highestlight reduction by the sheets and the value “HallMagMax=2”, andtherefore, step S509 is performed.

Next, in step S509, the group number “Gun” to reproduce the star as atransmitted-light star. Then, the method proceeds to step S510.Specifically, in step 509, for each of the groups subjected to thehighest to lowest light reduction, the values of “GunMag” and“SheetDecMag” are evaluated, and the group number “Gun” that providesthe relation SheetDecMag>GunMag (Gun) is determined. If the group numberis determined, the lamination information “SheetStack” on the sheetsthat the transmission hole penetrates is determined. In the case of theselected star, the following relationship holds: “GunMag (the 1stgroup)=magnitude 4 SheetDecMag=magnitude 2.9>GunMag (the 2ndgroup)=magnitude 2. Therefore, the following result is obtained:“Gun=2nd group”.

Next, in step S510, the diameter number “Diallo” of the transmissionhole that gives the light reduction of the magnitude corresponding tothe difference between the “GunMag (Gun)” and “SheetDecMag” of the star,based on the hole diameter magnitude information “HallMag”. Then, themethod proceeds to step S511

Specifically, in step S510, the difference between “GunMag (Gun)” and“SheetDecMag” is evaluated in the order from the diameter numberrepresenting the smallest diameter to the diameter number (0)representing the largest diameter. Then, “Diallo” that provides therelationship SheetDecMag−GunMag (Gun)≥HallMag (Diallo) is determined.

In the present embodiment, the following relationships hold: “HallMag(0)=magnitude 0”, “HallMag (1)=magnitude 1”, and the diameter numberrepresenting the smallest diameter is “1”. Therefore the result of theabove-described evaluation for the selected star is: SheetDecMag−GunMag(Gun)=magnitude 2.9−magnitude 2=magnitude 0.9, then HallMag(1)=magnitude 1>magnitude 0.9≥HallMag (0)=magnitude 0. Thus, the resultis: “Diallo=0”.

Next, in step S511, for the group number “Gun” determined in step S509,the following parameters are determined: the lamination information“SheetStack” on the sheet that the transmission hole in the grouppenetrates and the diameter of the transmission hole “HallDia”corresponding to the “Diallo” determined in step S510. Then, the methodproceeds to step S512.

Specifically, in step S511, since the group number is determined as“Gun=2nd group” for the selected star, the laminate information isobtained as: “SheetStack=1st paper layer·aluminum foil layer”. Further,since the diameter number is determined as “Diallo=0”, the hole diameteris obtained as “HallDia=0.3 mm”.

Next, in step S512, it is judged whether the evaluation about all starshas been finished. If it has been finished, step S513 is performed. Ifthe evaluation has not been finished, step S504 is performed again.

Next, in step S513, the processes to make the laminated sheet 220including laminating and sticking of the sheets, forming of thetransmission holes through drilling, and printing of the coloredfilters, based on the data of “SheetStack”, “HallDia” and “FilterColor”for all stars determined to be reproduced as transmitted-light stars.Thus, the production method is completed.

Specifically, in step S513, for formation of the laminated sheet of theembodiment, the 1st paper layer 201 and the aluminum foil layer 202 arelaminated and stuck to each other. Then, for all stars determined as“SheetStack=1st paper layer−the aluminum foil layer”, light-transmissionholes 212 having the diameters provided by “HallDia” are formed at thepositions provided by “StarPos” on the inside surface of the 1st paperlayer 201. Thus, the holes in the 1st group are formed.

Next, the colored printings 215 based on the “FilterColor” are formedfor respective stars through printing at the positions provided by the“StarPos” on the inside surface of the 2nd paper layer. Then, the 2ndpaper layer 203 is laminated and stuck to the aluminum foil layer 202 sothat the position of each colored printing 215 may match the position ofthe transmission hole 212 for each star. Alternatively, after the 2ndpaper layer 203 is laminated and stuck to the aluminum foil layer 202,colored printings based on the “FilterColor” are formed through printingat the positions provided by the “StarPos” for respective stars on theoutside surface of the 2nd paper layer 203. In the latter way, there isan advantage the influence of the positional displacement occurring inthe sticking process is smaller.

Next, for all stars in the 2nd group determined as “SheetStack=1st paperlayer·aluminum foil layer·2nd paper layer”, transmission holes 213having the diameters provided by the “HallMag” are formed at thepositions provided by the “StarPos”. Thus, the holes in the 2nd groupare formed.

Then, the colored printings 216 based on the “FilterColor” are formedfor respective stars through printing at the positions provided by the“StarPos” on inside surface of the 3rd paper layer 204. Then, the 3rdpaper layer 204 is laminated and stuck to the 2nd paper layer 203 sothat the position of each colored printing 216 may match the position ofthe transmission hole 213 for each star. Alternatively, after the 3rdpaper layer is laminated and stuck to the 2nd paper layer, the coloredprintings based on the “FilterColor” are formed through printing forrespective stars at the positions provided by the “StarPos” on theoutside surface of the 3rd paper layer. In the latter way, there is anadvantage the influence of the positional displacement occurring in thesticking process is smaller.

Then, for the stars in the 3rd group determined as “SheetStack=1st paperlayer·the aluminum foil layer·the 2nd paper layer·the 3rd paper layer”,transmission holes 214 in the 3rd group having the diameters provided bythe

“HallDia” are formed at the positions provided by the “StarPos”. Thus,the holes in the 3rd group are formed. Then, the colored seals 217having colored printings formed through printing based on the“FilterColor” to cover the transmission holes 214 are stuck.

By the method to produce the laminated sheet 220 for the starry skyreproducing device 1 explained above, appropriate sheets can belaminated in an appropriate procedure to have a multilayer structure,which characterizes the starry sky reproducing device, andlight-transmission holes having appropriate diameters can be formed onthe laminated sheets. These processes are performed based on the starbasic data about stars having various brightnesses and colors containedin the starry sky to be reproduced, extracted from the star catalog orastronomical photographs, and based the transmitted-light starinformation of the laminated sheet 220.

The transmitted light is attenuated by the inks forming the coloredprintings to give colors to the transmitted-light stars; however, in thepresent method, appropriate types and diameters of transmission holescan be selected taking account of the effect of light reduction.Consequently, the starry sky reproducing device can reproduce stars asthe transmitted-light stars having accurate brightnesses and colors.

Further, even based on the same basic configuration data about thestarry sky to be reproduced, starry sky reproducing devices which fitspecific purposes for the use thereof can be produced by changing thetransmission-star information depending on the purposes.

Though all the steps explained above are performed manually by a maker,a part or all of the steps may be performed by non-human apparatus,instead.

The above-presented explanation shows the method to produce thelaminated sheet 220 in which information on the materials required forthe production of the starry sky reproducing device is obtained throughsteps S500-S512, and laminating and sticking of the sheets, formation ofthe transmission holes through drilling, and printing of the coloredfilters are carried out in step S513 based on the obtained data. In themethods, steps S500-S512 is a characteristic process to produce thepresent starry sky reproducing device; however, the process to solve theproblem of the present invention is not limited thereto, but variationsexplained below are available.

For example, a star chart making program already exists which extractsbasic data of stars contained in the starry sky to be reproduced from astar catalog or astronomical photographs, and displays the data on ascreen or prints them with any designated size, layout, and range ofmagnitude of stars to be reproduced. A program which implements theprocess of steps S500-S512 can be incorporated in the star chart makingprogram. Steps S500-S512 can be carried out by the star chart makingprogram. Then, based on the data generated by the program, printing isapplied to the sheets which need printing process among the materialsrequired for implementation of the production method. The process ofstep S513 is carried out through lamination of the sheets and formationof transmission holes. Producing the laminated sheet 220 for the starrysky reproducing device by this method has the same effects as describedabove.

A first maker who is a consumer may carry out steps S500-S512. Then thefirst maker makes an order data which includes the data generatedthrough the steps, information data on the first maker, and paymentinformation, and orders the laminate sheet 220 by sending the order datato an order-processing server on the internet. After that, a secondmaker obtains the order data, and produces the laminated sheet 220 byperforming step S513 based on the data included in the order data. Thesecond maker send the produced laminated sheet 220 to the first maker,and receives the production cost of the sheet 220 from the first makerbased on the payment information. Producing the laminated sheet 220 forthe starry sky reproducing device by this method has the same effects asdescribed above.

The method stated below is also available. Specifically, the secondmaker carries out steps S500-S512, and prepares the materials requiredfor performing step S513 based on the obtained data. And the secondmaker offers the first maker a production kit containing the materialsand tools to form light-transmission holes on the materials throughdrilling. The first maker as a consumer carries out step S513 bylaminating the sheets and forming the light-transmission holes with theuse of the materials and tools contained in the production kit.Producing the laminated sheet 220 for the starry sky reproducing deviceby this method has the same effects as described above. In this method,moreover, the first maker as a consumer can enjoy the experience of handcrafting.

In the present specification, the “materials required for implementationof the production method” means the materials which are required inimplementation of the method of production of the disclosed starry skyreproducing device. Specifically, the materials include a first paperlayer 201 which has on the surface thereof marks showing the positionsand sizes of the holes in the first group to be formed, an aluminum foillayer 202, a second paper layer 203 which has colored printings 215corresponding to the holes in the first group on the surface thereof, asecond-group drilling instruction sheet which has on the surface thereofmarks showing the positions and sizes of the holes in the second groupto be formed, a third paper layer 204 which has colored printings 216corresponding to the holes in the second group on the surface thereof,and a third group drilling instruction sheet which has on the surfacethereof marks showing the positions and sizes of the holes in the secondgroup to be formed. They may be separated from or combined with eachother.

The second maker may produce a drilled laminated sheet as ahalf-completed product by, in advance, laminating the first paper layer201 and the aluminum foil layer 202 among the materials required forimplementation of the production method and forming the holes in thefirst group, and then may offer a production kit which contains thedrilled laminate sheet to the first maker as a consumer. In this case,the load in the drilling process is greatly reduced: the drillingprocess in step S513 performed by the first maker as a consumer islimited to the process to form the holes in the second and third groups,by the consumer need not form the holes in the first group. Therefore,various consumers as first makers can carry out this production methodand produce starry sky reproducing devices.

Alternatively, a third maker may carry out steps S500-S512, in advance.Then, the third maker prepares a print data for applying printing on thesheets that need printing process among the materials for implementationof the production method, and publishes them on a web site. Then, asecond maker as a host of an event for crafting obtains the print data.The second maker prints out the print data on sheets with the use of hisprinter and offers the printed sheets to s first maker. The first makercarries out the rest of step S513, by laminating the printed sheets andforming light-transmission holes. Producing the laminated sheet 220 forthe starry sky reproducing device by this method has the same effects asdescribed above. Further, the second maker as a host of an event forcrafting can easily offer the experience to implement this productionmethod to consumers.

As shown in FIG. 69, a second maker may make a book 2210 containing thematerials 2209 required for implementation of the production method,prepared based on the information obtained through steps S500-S512 andinstruction pages 2211 which carry the information explaining theproduction method of the starry sky reproducing device and commentaryinformation on the starry sky reproduced by the device. In this case,the materials 2209 required for implementation of the production methodare offered in the form of the book 2210 to a first maker as a consumer.After purchasing the book 2210, the first maker parts out the material2209 from the book 2210 and carries out the rest of the process in stepS513 by laminating and sticking the sheets and forming the transmissionholes. Thus, the first maker can easily carry out the production methodof the laminated sheet 220. Moreover, learning effect is increased bythis method because the first maker can use the starry sky reproducingdevice referring to the commentary information on the starry sky in thebook.

The laminated sheet 220 may be observed in a simple way shown in FIG.75. Specifically, the access information 2201 to access a server 2200 onthe internet providing commentary information is provided on thelaminated sheet 220. A user obtains the commentary information from theserver 2200 based on the access information 2201 by using the user'scomputer 2202 or mobile information terminal 2203. Then, the userdisplays the commentary information on a screen 2204. After that, theuser puts the laminated sheet 220 over the screen 2204 and observes thetransmitted-light stars with illuminating the back side of the laminatedsheet 220 with the light from the screen 2204. Thus, the laminated sheet220 may be observed easily along with commentary information.

In this case, it is advantageous if the commentary information isprovided with a movie to reproduce blinking of stars by changing theluminance at respective positions on the screen 2204 depending on time.

Further, an image 2207 displayed on the screen 2204 corresponding todisplayed elements disposed at plural positions on the laminated sheet220, such as a star name indication 2206 showing a first-magnitude star“Aldebaran”, may be changed so that the luminances of the transmittedlight on the displayed elements are changed with synchronized to thecontent of the voice commentary. Thus, the displaying state of thedisplayed elements can be changed depending on demands, whereby therange of variety in the celestial objects reproduced by the laminatedsheet 220 and the commentary displayed on the screen 2204 can be madewider. In this case, the displaying state of the displayed elements onthe laminated sheet 220 may be controlled minutely by putting the outersurface of the laminated sheet 220 close to the screen 2204 consistingof a displaying device which can be controlled per pixel, such as aliquid crystal display.

A commentary displaying area 2205 may be set on a part of the screen2204, and a window 2208 to observe the commentary displaying area 2205therethrough may be formed on the laminated sheet 220 in an areacorresponding the commentary displaying area 2205 so that an observercan observe commentary information displayed on the commentarydisplaying area 2205. Thus, detailed images of celestial objects,graphs, or reference images can be displayed depending on demands, andan observer with hearing difficulties can understand the content of thevoice commentary information through a caption.

For observation of the starry sky reproducing device in the daytime, thelaminated sheet 220 may be covered with a hood having an observationhole and observed through the observation hole, whereby thetransmitted-light stars are observed beautifully with the sheet 220shielded from the light from the environment.

Next, the operation of the one-chip CPU is explained based on a systemconfiguration diagram shown in FIG. 12, a data structure chart recordedin the RAM area of the one-chip CPU shown in FIG. 5, and flowchartsshowing the program recorded in the ROM shown in FIGS. 19, 20, and 21.First, the operation in the main routine shown in FIG. 19 is explained.

In step S1, the one-chip CPU 301 turns off the LED elements whoselighting is controlled by the one-chip CPU 301 through the LED drivingIC 302: namely, all of the backlight LEDs 105 (LED111-LED444), thewhite-chip LEDs 305 (LED1-LED8), the light pollution lamp 110 (LED0),the wide-angle UV lamp (UV1), and the narrow-angle UV lamps (UV11-UV44).Then, the program proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, the one-chip CPU 301 try to read the number assigned to thestarry sky reproducing sheet recorded in the nonvolatile memory. If theCPU 301 can read correct data, the operation proceeds to step S3. If theCPU can not read the correct data, the program iterates step S2. In thiscase the program proceeds to step S3 because the starry sky reproducingsheet is installed correctly. In step S3, the one-chip CPU 301 sets RAMvariables “Mode No” and “Step No” both at “1”. Then, the programproceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the one-chip CPU 301 reads the following parameters from theinformation relating to the starry sky recorded in the nonvolatilememory, based on variables “Mode No” and “Step No”: “Timer”, “Scene No”,and “Trig” which indicate a duration, a scene number, and a transitioncondition, respectively, of the specified step in the operating mode and“Max Step No” which indicates a number of the steps included in theoperating mode. Then, the CPU 301 records the parameters in the RAM.Then, the program proceeds to step S5. In step S5, the one-chip CPU 301reads a scene information corresponding to the “Step No”. Then theprogram proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, the one-chip CPU 301 sets data which indicate luminance andamount of scintillation for each of the LED elements controlled by thetimer interruption routine for lighting control described below. Then,the program proceeds to step S7. If the data is set here, the one-chipCPU 301 performs the operation, in parallel, to drive each of the LEDelements with the specified luminance and amount of scintillation instep S201 of the timer interruption routine for lighting controldescribed below. The explanation on detail of the data structure isomitted in this specification because there are many groups of elements.

In step S7, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether time elapsed after stepS4 is longer than “Timer” or not. If the CPU 301 judges as “No”, theprogram iterates the operation in step S7. If the CPU 301 judges as“Yes”, the program proceeds to step S8.

In step S8, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether “Trig” is “0”, whichindicates that the next step is performed automatically after apredetermined time, or not. If the CPU 301 judges as “Yes”, the programproceeds to step S15. If the CPU 301 judges as “No, the program proceedsto step S9.

In step S9, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether “Trig” is “1”, whichindicates the next step is performed if the “0” button of the infraredremote controller is pressed after a predetermined time. If is the CPU301 judges as “Yes”, the program proceeds to step S13. If the CPU 301judges as “No”, the program proceeds to step S10.

In step S10, the one-chip CPU 301 refers to information “Key No” on theoperation buttons of the infrared remote controller, which is detectedand input in interruption process for the remote controller signaldescribed below. Then the CPU 301 judges whether any of “0” to “9”buttons was pressed. If the CPU 301 judges as

“No”, the program iterates the operation in step S10. If the CPU 301judges as “Yes”, the program proceeds to step S11. In step S11, theone-chip CPU 301 set the number of the button indicated by “Key No” in“Mode No”. Then, the program proceeds to step S12. In step S12, theone-chip CPU 301 initializes “Step No” to “1”. Then, the program returnsto step S4.

In step S13, the one-chip CPU 301 refers to the information “Key No” onthe operation buttons of the infrared remote controller and judgeswhether the “0” button was pressed. If the CPU 301 judges as “No”, theprogram iterates the operation in step S13. If the CPU 301 judges as“Yes”, the program proceeds to step S14. In step S14, the one-chip CPU301 once sets “Step No” at “−”, which indicates that no operation isperformed, and the program proceeds to step S15. In step S15, theone-chip CPU 301 add a value of “+1” to the “Step No”. Then, the programproceeds to step S16. In step S16, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether“Step No” is over “Max Step No”. If the CPU 301 judges as “Yes”, theprogram returns to step S3. If the CPU 301 judges as “No”, the programproceeds to step S4.

Then, the operation in the interruption routine for the remotecontroller signal shown in FIG. 20 is explained. The one-chip CPU 301executes this interruption routine when the operation signal is inputfrom the infrared remote controller. In step S101, the one-chip CPU 301reads the information on the button operated on the infrared remotecontroller, sets the information to “Key No”, and then finishes theinterruption routine. Since transmission of the operation data from theinfrared remote controller by infrared rays and detection of theinformation on the state of buttons based on the signal received by aninfrared sensor are commonly known techniques, detailed explanation onthe techniques is omitted in the present specification.

Then, the operation in the timer interruption routine for lightingcontrol timer shown in FIG. 21 is explained. The routine is a timerinterruption routine started by a timer contained in the one-chip CPU301. In step S201, the one-chip CPU 301 carries out PWM control (pulsewidth control) based on the data which indicates the luminance andamount of scintillation of each of the LED elements set in step S6 ofthe main routine. Then the program proceeds to step S202. Since PWMcontrol of an LED element based on predetermined values in a timerinterruption routine started by timer interruption is a commontechnique, detailed explanation on the technique is omitted.

In step S202, the one-chip CPU 301 reads the value of the luminanceadjusting volume controller connected to the one-chip CPU 301, andcalculates the ratio “Volume” of the value to a standard value. Then,the program proceeds to step S203.

In step S203, the one-chip CPU 301 change the luminances of the LEDelements except the light pollution lamp (LED0) based on the value of“Volume”. In the step, the luminances of the LED elements are varied asa whole according to the ratio according to the operation of theluminance adjusting volume controller. As a result, the balance amongthe brightness of the transmitted-light stars reproduced by thebacklight LEDs (BL111-BL444), the brightness of the printed luminousstars reproduced by the UV lamp (UV0, UV11-UV44), and the brightness ofthe light-emitting element stars reproduced by the white-chip LEDs(LED1-LED6) does not change. Therefore, the interruption routine doesnot cause any problem in reproducing the starry sky.

Then, this article explains about the operation when the user uses thedevice according to the present embodiment based on the starry skyreproducing sheet related information recorded in the nonvolatile memoryof the installed starry sky reproducing sheet (FIGS. 16-18).

First, the user installs the starry sky reproducing device in a darkroom or outdoor at night and the astronomical telescope ten meters awayfrom the starry sky reproducing device. Next, the user removes theinstallation frame from the lightbox, and installs the starry skyreproducing sheet selected from the plural starry sky reproducing sheetsbetween the transparent plate and the installation frame. Then, thecontact board is installed in the prescribed position, and the contactpin is contacted to the contact pad and connected electronically.

Then, when the power switch is turned on, the one-chip CPU 301 is resetand the main routine starts. At first, the operation starts in the caseof the operation mode is “1”: the star observation mode. After that, theoperation according to the program operation of the one-chip CPU 301described above is as follows.

That is, the star observation mode (ModeNo=1) is the mode composed ofone step, and operates to repeat SceneNo=2: the scene reproducing thesky of the mountainous area in Timer=10: until “1” to “9” are pushedwith the button operation of the infrared remote controller after thescene continues ten seconds.

Now, in the scene to reproduce the sky of the mountainous area, as shownin FIG. 17, the luminance of the light pollution lamp (LED0) whichdetermines the brightness of the background sky is rather dark 10. Also,the luminance of the white-chip LEDs (LED1-LED6) which determine thebrightness of the printed luminous stars which are bright stars is thestandard value (at least 8 to at most 85) provided by the stars of theOrion shown in FIG. 18. This standard value is set to the value whichshows the luminance to be observed in the same magnitude as the realstars when the starry sky reproducing sheet is observed in the supposeddistance: now ten meters. Also, as the luminance of the backlight LEDs(BL111-BL444) which determine the brightness of the transmitted-lightstars which are intermediately bright stars, likewise the standard value(=100) which is provided by the stars of the Orion shown in FIG. 18, isset as the value of all backlight LEDs. Then, the value of scintillationis set to the value ±30% to reproduce the standard blink which occurs inobserving from the ground. That shows the standard blink without thehighlight indication is reproduced. Besides, as the luminance of the UVlamps (UV0, UV11-UV44) which determine the brightness of the printedluminous stars which are dark stars, that of the wide-angle UV lamp(UV0) is set to 50, and those of the narrow-angle UV lamps (UV11-UV44)are 0 in non-lighting. That shows there is no highlight indication.Moreover, the luminance of the white-chip LEDs (LED7, LED8) whichdetermine the brightness of the light-emitting lines are set to 0 innon-lighting. That shows the light-emitting lines for the explanationare not used.

As a result, the stars which are reproduced with the starry skyreproducing sheet blink in the dark sky without light pollution in themountainous area rich in nature, then the beautiful starry sky isreproduced.

Next, when the observer pushes the button “2” of the infrared remotecontroller, the one-chip CPU 301 operates according to the programoperation already explained, and performs the operation named “lightpollution explanation” shown in FIG. 16. In this operating mode,desirably the user views it playing the explanation contents such asvideo sites on the Internet.

In this operating mode, the scenes of “urban sky”, “mountainous areasky” and “starry sky viewed from space” in the four scenes go on bypushing the button “0” of the infrared remote controller.

Now, as shown in FIG. 17, in “urban sky”, the light pollution lamp(LED0) is rather bright (=100), and the white-chip LEDs (LED1-6), thebacklight LEDs (BL111-BL444), and the wide-angle UV lamp (UV1) arerespectively darker two magnitudes than the standard value adopted in“mountainous area sky”. Therefore, the stars becoming dark by the lightreduction by the dirty air are reproduced in the night sky which getsbright because of the light pollution. Also, in “starry sky viewed fromspace”, the starry sky which is observed in space with no air isreproduced. That is, the night sky without the light pollution isreproduced, and it is characteristic that the stars never blink withoutscintillation. After that, the scene goes back to “mountainous area sky”and it is kept until the buttons “1” to “9” of the infrared remotecontroller are pushed.

In the above operating modes, the “starry sky viewing” mode is suitablefor enjoying the starry sky with the naked eyes installing it on thebedroom wall. The “light pollution explanation” mode is suitable for theenvironment study to view a change of the whole starry sky with thenaked eyes. Both of them are used for observing with the naked eyes.

On the other hand, “the Orion explanation” which is selected by pushingthe button “3” of the infrared remote controller by the observer is theuseful operating mode for the use with the astronomical telescope. Inthis operating mode, it is desirable to use the astronomical telescopewhich has the diameter of about 8 cm and the digital CCD camerainstalled about ten meters away from the starry sky reproducing device.

In “the Orion explanation” mode, as shown in FIG. 17, the three scenesof “urban sky”, “mountainous area sky” and “constellation picture”switches every one minute and automatically go to the scene of “positionof the Orion Nebula”. It is assumed that they are viewed while playingthe explanation contents such as video sites on the Internet.

In the scene of “constellation picture”, the plastic optical fiber (f7)to reproduce the constellation lines of the Orion which is one of thelight-emitting lines emits light, and the state of the Orion isreproduced. On this occasion, the stars such as the light-emittingelement stars, the transmitted-light stars, and the printed light starsare one magnitude darker in order to make the constellation lines easyto view.

In “position of the Orion Nebula”, the explanation of the Orion Nebulais provided in the explanation video, and the observer looks for theposition of the Orion Nebula according to the explanation. At this time,the plastic optical fiber (f8) emits light and the light-emitting linesare displayed to indicate the position of the Orion Nebula (M42),therefore the observer can easily find the Orion Nebula.

In the conventional starry sky reproducing device, in order to displaythe constellation lines and the positions of certain celestial objects,the constellation pictures are projected with the projector, drawn withthe phosphorescent paint, and the constellation pictures drawn by thefluorescent ink are lightened with the UV lamp. However, there areproblems that the equipment is necessary to use the projector, emittinglight cannot be controlled by the phosphorescent paint, and theconstellation pictures are displayed with the printed luminous starsalways at the same time by drawing the fluorescent ink.

However, the starry sky reproducing device of the present invention candisplay the positions of the celestial objects by the linearlight-emitting lines which can adjust the luminance with no operation ofthe UV lamp, therefore there is the effect that the constellationpictures and so on can be reproduced easily and appropriately accordingto the explanation.

At this time, the stars are reproduced as well as “mountainous areastar”. Also, the luminance of the light pollution lamp (LED0) is set tozero so that the darkest stars to reproduce with the printed luminousstars (U6) are not covered with the brightness of the sky, and thedarkest starry sky on the earth is reproduced. Therefore, in the casethat the Orion Nebula is photographed for a long time with the digitalCCD camera, there is no duplication.

At this time, the observer observes the Orion Nebula in detail with thebinoculars or the astronomical telescope. With the binoculars, theobserver can view the expanse of the light of the faint clouds of gasand dark stars. The dark slits toward the trapeziums in the middle ofthe Orion Nebula also can be viewed. Next, the observer observes withthe astronomical telescope which has a diameter of 8 cm. Then, the faintclouds of gas are observed and seemed as if a bird is flying. Thetrapeziums are also can be viewed in detail.

In the real astronomical observation, the slits of the complicated darkbelt of the clouds of gas are viewed more clearly, and the wonderfulviews are enjoyed with the astronomical telescope which has a largediameter of more than 30 cm. However, the astronomical telescope whichhas a large diameter is expensive and too big to use in the limitedspace. In addition, it has so long a focus length that it cannot focuson the near starry sky reproducing sheet.

In the next scene “details of the Orion Nebula”, the LED elementsrelated to the light-emitting element stars, the transmitted-light starsand the printed luminous stars included in the area that the OrionNebula exists are set to be two magnitudes brighter than each standardluminance.

Specifically, the LED6 corresponding to the plastic optical fiber (f6)to reproduce the Orion Lot star (magnitude 2.75 star) as thelight-emitting element star, the backlight LEDs (BL331-BL334) toreproduce the transmitted-light stars in the area of stars that theOrion Nebula exists, and the narrow-angle UV light (UV33) to reproducethe printed luminous stars in the area of stars that the Orion Nebulaexists likewise are set to be two magnitudes brighter than each standardluminance.

If the stars become two magnitudes brighter, the luminance becomessixteen times as bright as its original. That is equivalent tomagnifying the light-gathering power of the telescope which has adiameter of 8 cm sixteen times. Therefore, the same observationexperience as to observe with the astronomical telescope having adiameter of 32 cm which is four times bigger if it is converted intodiameter. At this time, the brightness balance of the light-emittingelement stars, the transmitted-light stars, and the printed luminousstars, which are concluded in a certain area operates not to change,therefore the starry sky same as real one with the astronomicaltelescope which has a big diameter can be observed.

Now, this function which is realized by the program of the one-chip CPUand the information recorded in the starry sky reproducing sheet relatedinformation in the nonvolatile memory, correspond to the functionprovided by the light-emitting element control means, the illuminationpanel control means, and the UV-lamp control means contained in Claims 5and 7.

The practical example of the starry sky reproducing device of thepresent invention has the structures and functions as above, thereforethe effect such as described in “effect of invention” occurs. Thefollowing article explains about the items which can more concretelycompliment the function effect explained in “effect in invention”.

First, with the starry sky reproducing device of this embodiment, thelight-emitting element stars reproduce the bright stars whose magnitudesare 0.18-3, the transmitted-light stars reproduce the intermediatelybright stars whose magnitudes are 3-9, and the printed luminous starsreproduce the dark stars whose magnitudes are 9-15. Of these, thetransmitted-light stars are formed by the mechanical drilling process,however the minimum diameter which can be processed with cheaptechnology is limited to about 0.1 mm. Also, in order that the starrysky is observed as minute as real one when it is observed about tenmeters away by magnifying ten times with the astronomical telescopes,the maximum apparent diameters of the stars are needed to be 6 minutesor less so that they are observed as dots with the human eyes. That is,the diameters of the stars are needed to be 0.3 mm or less.

For these reasons, the holes are 0.19 mm to 0.3 mm in the presentembodiment. It is one magnitude if it is converted into the differenceof magnitude. In the case that the stars which are included in plus orminus 0.5 magnitude by each hole, the stars whose magnitude ranges areonly two can be reproduced. However, the starry sky reproducing deviceof the present invention has the structure of the laminated sheet asshown in the present embodiment, therefore there is the effect that thestars whose magnitude ranges are six can be reproduced.

In addition, the starry sky reproducing device makes use of the law ofnature that “The brighter the natural stars are, the fewer the number ofthem is. The darker they are, the more it is.”, and optimizes thecombination of the light-emitting element stars and the printed luminousstars which are different in the principles of the reproduction methods,therefore the effect which cannot be fulfilled by the method onlycombining the conventional technology simply occurs.

That is, with the printed luminous stars, if the luminance of the UVlamp increases, the intensity of visible light which is included in thelight of the UV lamp also increases, the irradiated surface of the 1stpaper layer of the laminated sheet is illuminated by the visible light,the originally dark parts of “sky” other than the stars emit lightslightly, and the minute stars cannot be viewed. Therefore, theluminance of the UV lamp cannot be increased recklessly. That isremarkable in the ultra violet type LEDs.

On the other hand, the diameters of the printed luminous stars cannot beenlarged recklessly so that they are observed as dots even when they aremagnified with the telescope. The light emission efficiency of thefluorescent ink: the luminance per unit area is also limited. For thesereasons, there is the defect that the brightness of the stars which canbe reproduced by the printed luminous stars is limited.

On the other hand, there is the advantage that the printed luminousstars can form a lot of stars rapidly and at a low cost in comparisonwith the transmitted-light stars and the light-emitting element starsbecause they are formed by the printing process of the ink-jet printer.Therefore, it is effective to apply the technology of the printedluminous stars to the reproduction of a lot of dark stars of the starsto reproduce.

Also, the transmitted-light stars have a large formation cost per onestar in comparison with the printed luminous stars because they need tobe made one by one with the processing needle. On the other hand, whenthe luminance of the backlight LEDs increases, the minute light emissionof the printed luminous stars printed on the surface of the 1st paperlayer of the laminated sheet is not disturbed and the starry sky havinga high contrast is reproduced because the light of the parts of “sky”other than stars is blocked off by the light shielding layer having ahigh light shielding performance such as an aluminum foil. Therefore,the luminance per unit area is set high in comparison with the printedluminous stars by irradiating to the outside of the laminated sheet byhigh illuminance with the backlight LEDs having a high luminance.Therefore, it is effective to apply the technology of thetransmitted-light stars to the reproduction of the stars brighter thanthe magnitude of the stars which are reproduced by the printed luminousstars.

Also, the light-emitting element stars have a large formation cost perone star in comparison with the printed luminous stars and thetransmitted-light stars because the plastic optical fibers need to belaid on the laminated sheet. On the other hand, the entry faces of theplastic optical fibers are located near the light emitting faces of thewhite-chip LEDs, and they can condense the lights with high efficiencyand guide them to the inside of the laminated sheet as thelight-emitting element stars. Therefore, the light-emitting elementstars can reproduce the brighter star in comparison with thetransmitted-light stars which is reproduced by the transmittance of thelights of the backlight LEDs which are scattered apart at a prescribeddistance. Therefore, it is effective to apply the technology of thelight-emitting element stars to the reproduction of the stars brighterthan the magnitude of the stars to reproduce by the transmitted-lightstars. There is also the effect that the cost rise is reduced becausethe brighter stars are few in number.

In this way, in the embodiment of the starry sky reproducing device ofthe present invention, there is the great effect that the stars in awide range of brightness ranging from the magnitude 0.18 shining star tomagnitude 15 star can be reproduced cheaply and effectively in size 0.3mm or less to be viewed as dots even when they are observed ten metersaway by magnifying ten times with the astronomical telescope. By usingthese design concepts, the ten billion times dynamic range of magnitude25 described in the target capacity 1 of the present invention can berealized.

Also, the starry sky reproducing sheet to reproduce Orion is explainedin detail in the embodiment, the plural starry sky reproducing sheets ofvarious scales and areas of stars can be made in the same way. On thisoccasion, they can be changed easily by removing the installation frame,and only one backlight and one body board may be prepared, which is verygood economically.

Also, the information related to the starry sky reproducing sheet isrecorded in the nonvolatile memory in advance, therefore there is thegreat effect that the one-chip CPU inputs it concurrently with thechange of the starry sky reproducing sheet, and operates the stars toperform the lighting control in an appropriate luminance automatically.When it is used as a learning faculty in science museums, the learnersselect the starry sky reproducing sheet they want to learn, install iton the device, and they can learn flexibly while switching the operationmodes with the infrared remote controller and playing the relatedexplanation video contents.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment andvarious configurations are possible. For example, in the case of thisembodiment, the information related to the starry sky reproducing sheetis recorded in the nonvolatile memory, however the starry skyreproducing sheet related information which is appropriate to theinstalled starry sky reproducing sheet may be recorded in other storagemeans. For example, the starry sky reproducing sheet related informationmay be recorded as second dimensional bar codes on the surface of thestarry sky reproducing sheet, read with reading device like smartphones,sent to the infrared sensors by infrared rays, and inputted through theinfrared sensors by the one-chip CPU. Also, if all starry skyreproducing sheet related information are not recorded in the starry skyreproducing sheet itself, the shortage of the starry sky reproducingsheet related information may be obtained by sending the distinction IDof the starry sky reproducing sheet recorded in the starry skyreproducing sheet to the Internet server, and communicated to theone-chip CPU. On this occasion, there is the effect that the learningeffect improves when the learner obtains the explanation informationabout the starry sky on the Internet, and listens to the explanationvoice while displaying a useful image on the smartphone screen. Thisapplication is explained in detail in Embodiment 2.

Embodiment 2

Next, we will explain about Embodiment 2 of the present inventionreferring to the figures. Within Embodiment 2, we realize the targetcapacity 5 to 11 in addition to performance 1 to 4. Furthermore, thesymbols in the figure are indicated with the same symbol within theother figures in the above-mentioned Embodiment 1 if the technologicalconstruction are the same.

Before the explanation of Embodiment 2, we will explain about theproblems related to target capacities 5 to 12 the conventionaltechnology shown in the Patent Literature 1 and 2 has. If there is noparticular description, the projection planetarium in the PatentLiterature 1 and 2 is referred to as the conventional technology in theexplanation below.

As in the conventional technology shown in FIG. 34, projection device 5to project stars, projection device 6 to project the whole sky andmultiple seats 7 for the audience to observe the stars and commentaryimages projected on dome 4 are placed inside the dome 4. Projectiondevice 5 to project stars reproducing the starry sky on dome 4 byprojecting the light from the lamp, which passes through the hole formedon the original star board with the star projection lens. The projectiondevice 6 to project the whole sky projects the starry sky shown on thehigh resolution display, commentary images and so on dome 4 through awide angle lens. In the conventional technology from the PatentLiterature 2, projection device 5 to project stars project starsbrighter than a certain level and projection device 6 project starsbelow the level on dome 4.

The conventional technology are consisted of the factors mentionedabove. So, the audience can experience introducing the celestial object(target capacity 7) or observe multiple reproduced celestial objectsabove the horizon (part of target capacity 8), confirm the observedstar's location in the sky (target capacity 9) by using the eithertelescope 8 placed inside the dome 4.

In the conventional technology as shown in FIG. 34, 4 telescope 8 areplaced inside the dome 4. But the conventional technology has manyproblems such as mentioned below.

Firstly, to observe the projected stars on dome 4 in a position where itis not distorted, the telescope 8 is desired to be placed in the normaldirection of the surface of dome 4. But in the conventional technology,projection device 5 to project stars and projection device 6 to projectthe whole sky exists in the normal direction so it is difficult to placethe telescope there. Thus, the telescope 5 is desired to be placed nearthe center of dome 4 although it would be separated from the projectiondevices 5, 6. But then, a new problem occurs. Near the center of dome 4is an excellent position for the audience who observes with the nakedeye and when a telescope is placed there, the number of seats that canbe placed becomes fewer. Even if this problem is ignored and telescope 8is placed by removing part of the audience seats 7, due to the positionof telescope 8 not placed in the center of the dome 4, an angle (θ1)occurs between the normal direction of where the celestial object (ST1)is projected on the surface of dome 4 and the line connecting thetelescope 8 and the celestial object. Due to this angle (θ1) thelocation of the star will be observed distortedly, and this problemcannot be ignored.

Also, depending on the location of the star other problems occur. Forexample, when observing a different celestial object (ST2) the angle(θ2) becomes larger and the location of the star will be observeddistortedly. Furthermore, the distance (L1, L2) between the telescope 8and each celestial object (ST1 and ST2) changes, so the observedlargeness of the star changes due to the celestial object and thetelescope 8's location and therefore the focus of the telescope 8changes too. For these reasons the conventional technology has manyproblems due to the failure in achieving target capacity 5.

Furthermore the celestial objects (ST1, ST2) are projected on thesurface of dome 4 so the distance between each celestial object (ST1,ST2) and telescope 8 (L1, L2) cannot be made significantly larger thanthe dome 4's radius(R). This problem prevents in achieving targetcapacity 6. This problem appears conspicuously when telescope 8 ispositioned near the center of the dome to achieve target capacity 5 asmuch as possible.

In particular, many diameter of the dome of the planetarium facilitiesexisting inside Japan are 12 to 20 meters in length. As an example, whenthe diameter of the dome is 16 meters, the distance between thecelestial object and telescope 8 cannot be made much larger than 8meters.

If target capacity 6 is not achieved, the focus position moves largelyand also the aberration of the lens becomes worse when a telescope onmarket is used because the telescope is designed to observe celestialobjects at infinite. This appears conspicuously when the telescope usedis a high light-gathering large diameter telescope with a lens over 200mm in length to observe a dark celestial object. Thus the conventionaltechnology has many problems due to the failure in achieving targetcapacity 6.

Next, regarding target capacity 8, multiple celestial objects reproducedabove the horizon can be observed at the same time by preparing multipletelescopes. But, largely separated celestial objects on the celestialsphere, such as the Sagittarius in the summer galaxy, the Orion in thewinter galaxy, Coma Berenices located in the galactic north pole and theSculptor located in the galactic south pole cannot be all projected onthe dome at the same time while showing multiple nebulas and starclusters existing inside each constellation. So, there was a problemthat they could not be observed at the same time.

Also with the conventional technology, many problems occur whenobserving multiple celestial objects because the celestial objectsreproduced on dome 4 is reproduced in the same size and color asobserved on the celestial sphere. Specifically, when observing arelatively bright celestial object with a large apparent diameter, asmall diameter telescope 8 with a low focus length is desired to gainlow magnification. Conversely, when observing a dark celestial objectwith a small apparent diameter, a large diameter telescope 8 is desiredfor high light gathering power. Thus the telescope needs to befrequently changed depending on the celestial object observed. Alsowithin the same telescope, the eyepiece needs to be changed in order tochange the magnification.

Therefore, the setting needs to be changed frequently and this isobstructive to offering efficient services to a large audience.Especially when observing a dark celestial object, a large telescope isneeded and it becomes physically difficult to place it inside the dome.Also other problems occur for the telescope on the market is designed toobserve celestial objects at infinite, the focus becomes out due to thedistance between the telescope and the surface of the dome.

Thus the conventional technology has difficulty in achieving targetcapacity 10 due to the celestial object observed with the telescopebeing reproduced in the actual size and brightness seen on the celestialsphere.

Next, regarding target capacity 11. At star observation parties wherethe actual starry skies are observed, observing a single celestialobject with multiple telescopes are used from before, for efficientobservation among plural number of observers. This method is necessaryfor providing efficient learning opportunity to many observers aspossible, and this is the same to the device reproducing the starry skyconcerning the present invention. Therefore, by using the projectiondevice 6 to project the whole sky and by projecting the name of thecelestial object and information near the reproduction image, it can beused for greater understanding.

However, when observing a single celestial object with multipletelescopes in the conventional invention, if the commentary informationprojected near the celestial object were the same, appropriatecommentary cannot be chosen for all of the audience using the telescope8 due to the difference in school age, the mother tongue, theastronomical knowledge they have from past experience such as other starobservation parties and events they took part in. In a limitedprojection space, it is not realistic to show all the commentaryinformation for various situations due to the lack of visibility, thushas problem in providing appropriate commentary information for eachaudience. Also, if the observer does a star observation by using thedevice which reproduces the starry sky in the conventional technology,there was a problem when the observer does a similar observation againwith the device because there is no record of the past experience.Therefore the past observing experience was not reflected on thecommentary information or the commentary from the instructor.

Next, regarding target capacity 12. With the conventional technology,projection device 5 to project the star and projection device 6 toproject the whole sky are placed near the center of dome 4 to projectthe stars and images on the surface of dome 4. So when the observerswant to experience in taking realistic astrophotography by bringing in amodel of objects on ground, such as the mountains, trees, buildings,people and so on inside the dome, a devise is needed for the projectedimages from the projection device 5 and 6 to not project on the model ofthe ground objects.

Among the conventional technology, the technology in Patent Literature 1can erase the stars projected from the projection device 5 in the areawhere ground objects such as clouds and buildings are projected, whileprojecting those ground objects from the projection device 6 to projectthe whole sky. So the method of projecting the starry sky on dome 4 butnot projecting on clouds or on ground objects is possible.

This technology can accept to clouds or buildings which are assumed inadvance, but is not suggested to flexibly accept to the various groundobjects or to the various setting of the model the user brings in.

Also, the appropriate projection state between the ground objects andthe starry sky is only established by the technology in PatentLiterature 1 only when it regards the projected sky and ground objectson dome 4. So, when an object is placed inside the dome 4 or whenmultiple objects are placed in different positions, when seen frompositions apart from the position of the projection device 5 to projectstars, it is geometrically impossible to establish the state. Thereforewith conventional technology, there is a problem in difficulty ofproviding an experience of astrophotography, based on the observer'svarious requests.

From the descriptions above, it is clear that the conventionaltechnology has many problems in achieving the 12 target capacities thepresent invention aims to achieve and was difficult to provide anappropriate developing learning environment using an astronomicaltelescope.

Next, we will explain about Embodiment 2 by referring to the figures.Embodiment 2 introduces a device to reproduce the starry sky whichsolves the problems the conventional technology has and also achieve thetarget capacities 1 to 11 within the 12 target capacities the presentinvention aims to achieve.

Firstly we will explain about the position of the starry sky reproducingdevice 1 inside the dome 4 of the planetarium facility. As shown in FIG.36 and FIG. 37, inside the dome 4 of the planetarium facility is thestar projection device 5 which reproduces the starry sky by projectingthe lamp light, which passes through the holes formed on the originalstar board and expanded with the star projecting lens onto the surfaceof dome 4. Also inside the dome 4 there is a projection device 6 toproject the whole sky, which projects the starry sky and commentaryimages displayed on the high resolution display, through a wide anglelens onto the surface of dome 4. Also there is multiple seats 7 set forthe audience to view the starry sky projected on dome 4.

Moreover, there are two starry sky reproducing device 1 to reproduce astarry sky which is smaller than dome 4 (a starry sky section area) and4 telescope 2 and a dummy telescope 3 to operate the introduction of thecelestial object inside the dome 4 of the planetarium facility.Telescope 2 is allocated so that one starry sky reproducing device canbe observed with two telescope 2 and the line of sight is positioned andfixed to the direction of the starry sky reproducing device 1. It shouldbe noted that the number of the starry sky reproducing device 1 andtelescope 2 shall not be applied to this number and for example, moretelescope 2 can be used for a larger number of starry sky reproducingdevice 1. The starry sky reproducing device 1 and telescope 2 are bothpositioned outside the space where the audience seats will be set andbelow the horizon 41.

Moreover, the number and position of the starry sky reproducing device 1and telescope 2 shall not be applied to this, and other examples areavailable. FIG. 85 is one example of another example of the starry skyreproducing device 1 and telescope 2. The starry sky reproducing device1 and telescope 2 are placed inside a dome with a round floor, or nearthe outer wall of a square room. The starry sky reproducing device 1 andtelescope 2 form a counterpart and is placed in the opposed position.When the starry sky reproducing device is positioned 2 meters above thefloor, telescope 2 and the observer 83 does not prevent the observationsight from the opposing telescope 2 when positioned below the device.When it is difficult to place the starry sky reproducing device in ahigh position, by placing the starry sky reproducing device 1 andtelescope 2 alternately along the surface of the wall, telescope 2 andobserver 83 will also not prevent the observation sight from thetelescope 2 observing the neighboring starry sky reproducing device 1.

When positioned as in FIG. 85, it has an effect on providing observationexperience by using multiple pairs of starry sky reproducing device 1and telescope 2 when providing a star observation experience to a largenumber of observer 83 taking part in the planetarium. In that case, bywidening the space between the telescope 2, it has an effect on securingspace for the audience waiting for the observation opportunity near thetelescope 2.

It should be noted that this device of positioning is also effectivewhen the starry sky reproducing device 1 in Embodiment 1 is used.

Also the starry sky reproducing device 1 is placed near the wall of dome4 to secure enough distance for the short distance observer 82 toobserve the starry sky reproducing device 1 with the binocular 9 ordigital camera 10.

Moreover, telescope 2 is placed at a position to take distance as muchas possible from the starry sky reproducing device 1, That is, in theopposing direction of the star reproducing device 1 crossing the centerof the dome 4. Also the position of telescope 2 has to be in a positionwhere enough space is secured for the observer 83 observing telescope touse it, and where the star projection device 5, projection device 6 toproject the whole sky and the head of the audience 81 sitting on theaudience seats 7 does not hinder the optical path when observing thestarry sky reproducing device.

Next, we will explain about the structure of the starry sky reproducingdevice in Embodiment 2 by referring to FIGS. 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 32,33, 62. The starry sky reproducing device 1 is placed on the floor ofdome 4 under the table 14 by fixing it with the legs 1401. Under thetable 14, lightbox 100, infrared sensor 108, and UV lamp 109 are fixedat a position.

Also, two drum 11 which consists of the shaft of the drum 1101 whichsupports the rotation and drum drive motor 1104 which enables to rotarydrive via the timing belt 1103 are placed on lower table 13.

On these two drum 11 are star retention sheet 12, which has multipleretention window 1201 to fix the star sheet 200. The star retentionsheet 12's either side is fixed on drum 11 and also is wound around it.By the rotating motion of the 2 drum 11, it makes it possible to placethe star sheet 200 which is fixed by the retention window 1201, to thedesignated position compared to the light box 100. Two-dimensional barcode sensor 17 and drum drive motor 1104 are connected to the one-chipCPU 301 and is made to operate under the behavior of the programdescribed later.

Upper table 13 is fixed above the lower table 13 by two pillar 1301 andtwo drum shaft 1101. Also, projector unit 16 which consists of projector1601, filter disk 1603 and filter disk drive motor 1608, is equipped toboth lower table 14 and upper table 13. As shown in FIG. 32, both of theprojector unit 16 is fixed to a position where it can project on thesurface of the split upper-half and lower-half of star sheet 200(1601 a,1601 b). It should be noted that as shown in FIG. 31, fixed on filterdisk 1603 are 3 light reduction filters which the degree of lightreduction are different. High light reduction filter 1605, medium lightreduction filter 1606 and low light deduction filter 1607 are fixed. Thedegree of light reduction of the medium light reduction filter 1606 is16 times lower than that of high light reduction filter 1605. Also,formed on filter disk 1603 is a window 1604 which a filter is not fixed.Projector 1601 and filter disk drive motor is connected to one-chip CPU301. One-chip CPU operates the filter disk drive motor 1608 under thebehavior of the program described later. The filter disk drive motor1608 rotates the filter disk 1603 and changes the filter positioned infront of the lens 1602 of projector 1601. This projector unit 16corresponds to the projector contained in Claim 4.

It should be noted that by making the light source of projector 1601changeable and lower the brightness to the same degree as when the highlight reduction filter 1605 is applied, application of filter disk 1603can be substituted.

Also as shown in FIG. 62, instead of applying projector unit 16, display1302 which can display images on the surface can be applied by fixing itto the upper table 13. By placing a half mirror 1303 which reflects thelight of the image from display 1302 while transmitting the light fromstar sheet 200, it is possible to see the image from display 1302 andthe light from star sheet 200 at the same time. For this half mirror1303, the structure can be made so that the observer can view thecommentary information about the reproduced starry sky by the starry skyreproducing device and the reproduced starry sky at the same timethrough the field of view of the telescope. The brightness of thebacklight illumination from the display 1302 can be changed in 4 levels,high, medium, low and very low. This structure is equivalent to thestructure of the prompter, who provides the orator with referenceinformation about the manuscript.

From the description here, the effect is the same if projector 1601 isreplaced with display 1302. If replaced, the brightness of the backlightillumination should correspond to each filter set by filter disk 1603 asdescribed below. When it is window 1604 without a filter, the brightnessshould be high. When the filter applied is the low light reductionfilter 1607, it should be medium. When it is the medium light reductionfilter 1606, it should be low and when it is the high light reductionfilter, the brightness should be very low. Shown in FIGS. 41 to 48 areimages of the projection from projector 1601, synthesized together fromthe top and bottom half. In this case if the projector is replaced withdisplay 1302, the synthesized image should be regarded as the imagedisplayed on display 1302.

This display 1302 and half mirror 1303 each corresponds to the displayand transmitting reflection plate contained in Claim 5.

Display unit 15, which consists of display 1501 which can displayhigh-definition images, display retention plate 1502, arm 1503 androtation shaft 1504 is fixed to the lower table 14 with the rotationshaft 1504 placed in the center so it can rotate. This display unit 15can be moved to position 1 by the display unit drive motor 1505, wherethe observer looking at the star sheet 200 through the telescope 2 whichis placed in front of the star sheet 200 and light box 100, can view thedisplay on display 1501. Also it can be moved to position 2, where it isset near the lower table 14 and is evacuated from the observer's sight.

The surface of the display retention plate 1502 is a screen-like pictureplane to project the images from projector 1601. The size of the windowformed near the center of the plate is smaller than that of the area ofwhich the display 1501, which is fixed behind the picture plane, candisplay images. It makes it possible to reproduce the projected imagesfrom the 2 projector 1601 and images displayed on display 1501 withoutjoints, on the entire surface of display retention plate 1502 when thedisplay unit 15 is set on position 1. The display 1501 and display unitdrive motor 1505 are both connected to one-chip CPU 301 and is made tooperate under the behavior of the program described later.

FIGS. 24 and 25 are an image of multiple star sheet 200 on the starsheet retention sheet 12 which is fixed on drum 11. By the rotation ofdrum 11, it is positioned in front of light box 100 and FIG. 24 is animage seen from the front of the starry sky reproducing device 1. FIG.25 is an image when seen from behind. In these figures, due to thesuction among the magnets 250 which are fixed around the periphery ofthe star sheet 200, magnets 101 which are fixed around the periphery ofthe light box 100 and magnets 350 which are fixed on the body board,star sheet 200 are pressed on the transparent plate 102 of the light box100 and body board 300. Also, the two-dimensional bar code sensor 17takes the image of the two-dimensional bar code 240, which is printed onthe most outer side of star sheet 200, on the third layer of paper 204.For the one-chip CPU 301's program, it can read the information which iswritten and the position of the bar code. The information written in thetwo-dimensional bar code 240 holds a peculiar information of the starsheet 200 and the program which runs on the one-chip CPU 301 makes itable to take the appropriate move for the star sheet 200. Also,depending on the detected position of the two-dimensional bar code 240,the drum drive motor 1104 is driven so that the drum 11 can rotate atthe appropriate position.

As shown in FIGS. 26 to 29, star sheet 200 and body board 300 aresimilarly constructed to that in Embodiment 1, but different in the waysexplained below. Firstly, the star sheet 200 in Embodiment 2 does nothave an integrated optical fiber 205 in the lower area. Secondly,beneath the face of the lamination sheet 220 there is a contact board206. Thirdly, the contact board does not have a non-volatile memory 208or a contact pad 209 a-209 d. Next, around the periphery of the starsheet 200 there are magnets 250 fixed. Also, there is a two-dimensionalbar code printed on the third paper layer 204 to identify the type ofstar sheet 200. Finally, there are no optical fibers f7 and f8 which arelaid on the first layer of paper 201 to show the line connecting theconstellations and the area in detail.

The one-chip CPU 301 has the functions below in addition to thefunctions explained in Embodiment 1. The extra functions the one-chipCPU 301 has are, ways to make the projector 1601 and display 1501 outputthe images, ways to output the field of view display to insert the fieldof view 61 onto the image projected by the projection device to projectthe whole sky, which shows the viewing direction from the dummytelescope 3 or the area of view from telescope 2. Also it has means ofnetwork communication to gain information from a server connected to theinternet which provides information or to send reference informationabout the commentary to the device the commentator has. In addition ithas ways to enter the observer identification information read from theobserver identification information reading device 832 which reads theID card 831 the observer 83 has. Also it has means to drive each motor,motor to drive the drum of the reading device 1104, display unit drivingmotor 1504, filter disk driving motor 1608 and draw tube driving motor23 of telescope 2, means to input the information of the telescope'ssettings from the detection signal sent by the eyepiece detection sensor25 of telescope 2 or the focus adjusting switch 2302. Finally, it hasmeans to input the introduction information from the detection signalsent by the H-axis and Z-axis sensor of dummy telescope 3, which is forintroducing the stars.

The one-chip CPU 301 of Embodiment 2 is explained as an element with allof these means. But it does not necessary have to be this way and can bea composite mean of electric control which consists of multiple elementssuch as a stick PC or a personal computer.

Also, the means of gaining information can be to access to savedinformation on a computer's hard disk instead of saving and gaininginformation on an information providing server.

The other different points are, the face of optical fibers f1 to f7 areplaced to the illuminating face of the white chip 305 and fixed to theretention board extended from the light box 100, at a position parallelto the contact board for motor driving function 206. Also, it differs inthat it has a magnet 250 and that it has no contact probes 306 a to 306d. Except these differences, the constitution are the same so theexplanations are omitted.

Next, we will explain about the contents to reproduce the starry skywith the starry sky reproducing device 1 in Embodiment 2, such as theimage data. It should be noted that the present invention is not limitedto the cases explained below and can accept to various contents relatedto starry skies.

FIGS. 38, 39 and 40 are images of the starry sky each reproduced by thestars lit up with light-emitting elements, transmitted light andspontaneous luminescent stars from multiple (three, in this embodiment)star sheets, the first: 200 a to the third: 200 c which are attached tothe star sheet retention sheet 12. To be precise, FIG. 38 is an image ofthe whole Orion 50, reproduced by the first star sheet, 200 a. In theOrion 50, the sequence of tristar 51 and the small tristar 52 isdistinctive. Next, FIG. 39 is an image of the great nebula of Orionreproduced by the second star sheet, 200 b and the trapezium 5204 insidethe great nebula can be seen in the image. Also, FIG. 40 is an image ofthe center of the great nebula of Orion, reproduced by the third starsheet 200 c and the trapezium 5204 is reproduced in detail.

FIGS. 41 to 46 and FIG. 51 are images synthesizing the projected imagesfrom the 2 projector unit 16. The upper half of each image is projectedby the projector unit 16, fixed on the upper table 13 and the lower halfis projected by the projector unit 16 fixed on the lower table 14. Theseimages are projected on the surface of the display retention plate 1502when the display unit 15 is in the first position, and projected on starsheet 200 when set in the second position.

FIG. 41 is an image which shows the tristar 51 around the Orion's belt.FIG. 42 is an image of the starry sky of which the star 5201 locatedmost north in the small tristar 52, starts to show when the view ismoved downwards from the position of FIG. 41. FIG. 43 is an image ofwhich the stars 5201 to 5203 which forms the small tristar 52, starts toshow in the view when the view is moved more downwards from the positionof FIG. 42. In the middle of the small tristar 52 is the great nebula ofOrion, and the pale shaft of light from the diffuse nebula 5203 isreproduced. The brightness of the image of FIGS. 41 to 43 are adjustedso that the observer 83 observing through telescope 2 can observe theprojected image in the same brightness as the true sky, when theprojector unit 16 is in the most bright display mode which is, when afilter is not applied.

FIG. 44 is a magnified image of the great nebula of Orion. Also, FIG. 45is an image of the stars near the center of the great nebula of Orion,when it is higher magnified than FIG. 44. It contains darker stars thanthe darkest star which can be reproduced by the starry sky reproducingsheet 200 c. FIG. 46 is an image of the distribution of field intensitynear the center of the great nebula of Orion, when observed by a radiotelescope.

The brightness of the image indicated by FIG. 44 and FIG. 45 is adjustedto the same brightness so that the brightest star the observer 83 canobserve through telescope 2 when the high light reducing filter 1605loaded on projector unit 16 at the darkest indication state, becomes thesame brightness to the darkest star reproduced by starry sky reproducingsheet 200. Also, the medium light reducing filter 1606 has 16 timeslower dimness rate than high light reducing filter 1605. Therefore whenfilter 1606 is loaded and observer 83 observes through a telescope whichhas 16 times light-gathering power (the caliber of the lens 4 timeslarger in size) compared to telescope 2, the image observed is indicatedto the same brightness as the real starry sky. When the low lightreducing filter 1607 is loaded, the density of the filter is set so thatthe image indicated becomes the same brightness to a picture of the realsky taken by a digital camera loaded on a telescope which has the sameoptical performance as telescope 2. Therefore, observer 83 can observe apicture identical to the real starry sky.

FIGS. 47 and 48 shows an image of the picture projected on theprojection surface of display 1501, when the display unit 15 is placedin the 1st location. FIG. 47 is an image which shows the whole view ofthe moon. FIG. 48 is an image which shows an enlarged image of a waningcrater in FIG. 47. FIG. 48 is also an image which shows the imageprojected on the surface of display retention board 1502 by projectionunit 16 when the enlarged image of the crater of the moon shown eitherin FIG. 49 or 51 is projected on display 1501. As shown in the imageindicated in FIG. 48, the center part where the display 1501 is locatedis black. So as shown in FIG. 50 the location of the image of the craterand the brightness are adjusted so that when the image in FIG. 48 isobserved with the image of the crater indicated on display 1501 at thesame time, the surface of the moon can be observed as a continuous imagewithout joints.

The image indicated on display 1501 or by projector 1601 can be ananimation instead of a still image. For example, the images in FIGS. 41to 43 can be made to create the projected image projected by projector1601 based on the information of the reproduced sky. As mentioned in thedescription of the main program later, by using the data related to thereproduced sky at that point and the data of the direction of view 31which changes when the audience 84 operates the dummy telescope 3 whenexperiencing introducing the celestial object, the one-chipmicrocomputer 301 calculates the location and the brightness of the starincluded in the designated viewing angle of the direction of view 31.This series of technology to reproduce the starry sky is already knownin the present program so the detail is omitted here.

For example, in the images used to observe the pattern of the surfacesuch as the enlarged image of the crater in FIGS. 49 to 51, the imagecan be a realistic video based on the still image, with an effect addedto represent the fluctuation of the atmosphere.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 52 the method below can be adopted tomake the image of the fluctuation of the atmosphere. In S1, a stellarobject is observed with a telescope and filmed in advance. In S2, thebrightness and diameter in each frame's stellar image is measuredfollowing the time axis. In S3, an approximation formula is evaluatedrelated to the change in the brightness and diameter following thechange in time. In S4, the original image to append the fluctuatingeffect is entered. The in S5, by using the approximation formularelating to the fluctuating effect evaluated in S3, an image with afluctuating effect added is generated by calculating the change in thebrightness and diameter at a voluntary time and pixel location. Finallyin S6, by connecting the multiple images generated in S5, a fluctuatingvideo can be made.

In this method, based on a high-definition image of a star taken inspace, which has no effect from the fluctuation of the atmosphere, theaudience can experience a presence observation similar to that of theactual starry sky by experiencing the changes in the size and effect ofthe fluctuation of the atmosphere when observed on earth.

Next, we will explain about telescope 2. As shown in FIG. 37, 4telescopes 2 are placed inside dome 4 and the direction of view isdesired to be fixed to the direction of starry sky reproducing device 1which is used. In the embodiment, the 2 telescopes 2 a, 2 b are placedto observe the starry sky reproducing device 1 a and the other 2telescopes 2 c, 2 d are placed to observe the starry sky reproducingdevice 1 b.

As shown is FIG. 53, telescope 2 consists of the pieces below. Firstly,fixed on foundation 29 is lens-barrel 21 and fixed on the head of thelens-barrel 21 is the objective lens 22. On the hind part is thedrawtube 24 which is retained to move parallel to the barrel-lens. Rack2401 is fixed to drawtube 24 and by gearing with the drive gear 2301fixed to the axis of rotation of the drawtube drive motor 23, drawtube24 can drive back and forth by the rotation of the drawtube drive motor23. Also an exchangeable eyepiece 27 is installed on drawtube 24. Fromthese elements, the audience can observe the enlarged image fromeyepiece 27, which enlarges the reproduced light of the star from thestarry sky reproducing device, imaged by the objective lens 22.

On the lens-barrel, eyepiece detection sensor 25 which detects the typeof eyepiece loaded on the eyepiece 27 is fixed. Also fixed onlens-barrel 21 is focus adjustment button 2302 which is used to inputthe operation to adjust the focus. This focus adjustment button 2302 ismade so it can input the operation in the “+” direction and the “−”direction. Also, digital camera 28 is fixed in the position of thefigure. Flip mirror 26, which can change the position to two places byoperating knob 2601 is fixed. The first position is where it does notreflect the light of the star from the objective lens 22 and let it passthrough eyepiece 27. The second position is where it reflects the lightof the star from the objective lens 22 and guides it to the digitalcamera 28. Drawtube drive motor 23, eyepiece detection sensor 25 andfocus adjustment button 2302 are all connected to the one-chip CPU 301of the starry sky reproducing device 1 via a cable.

FIG. 61 shows dummy telescope 3, which is used to experience introducinga celestial object. As shown in FIG. 37, dummy telescope 3 is positionedinside the dome 4, near the projection device 5 to project stars. Themain lens-barrel 34 is a dummy, which has no expensive lens attached toit. Guide scope 32 is attached to the main lens-barrel 34. Mainlens-barrel 34 is positioned on the ground by the leg 33 and issupported to look to a voluntary direction in the sky by a horizontalrotation centered on a vertical Z axis and a vertical rotation centeredon a horizontal H axis. The position within the rotational movement ofthe Z and H axis are both detected by a Z and H axis sensor which isconnected to the one-chip CPU 301 of the starry sky reproducing device1. The one-chip CPU 301 operates under the program mentioned below andcalculates the coordinate of the stars located in the same direction asthe view of direction of the dummy telescope. The composition of dummytelescope 3 is the same as an altazimuth telescope except for theexistence of an expensive objective lens, so the description in detailis omitted.

Next, we will explain about the operation of the one-chip CPU 301 inEmbodiment 2 according to the data structure chart of the RAM area ofthe one-chip CPU (FIG. 64), flowchart of the program recorded on the ROM(FIG. 65 and FIG. 66) and information relating to the starry skyrecorded on the ROM, or other exterior recording methods not mentionedin the figure, such as an internet server (FIG. 67 and FIG. 68).

FIG. 65 shows the flowchart of the main routine in Embodiment 2. In S21,the one-chip CPU 301 turns off all the LED element group which thelighting is controlled by the LED driving IC 302, that is, backlightLEDs 105 (LED 111-LED 444), white-chip LEDs 305 (LED 1-LED 8), lightpollution lamp 110 (LED 0), wide-angle UV lamp (UV1), narrow-angle UVlamp (UV11-UV44) and then goes to S22.

In S22, the one-chip CPU 301 initializes the rotational position of drum11 to the initial position, in front of the light box 100 of the firststarry sky reproducing sheet 200 a. Specifically, the one-chip CPU 301reads the two-dimensional barcode 240 with the two-dimensional barcodesensor 17. If the barcode is read, from the position of thetwo-dimensional barcode 240, the attached position of the starry skyreproducing sheet 200 and the sheet number (sheet No) is extracted. Ifthe extraction is not completed, drum 11 is slightly rotated to thedirection of the initial position until is extracted. After it isextracted, the drum drive motor 1104 is driven to move drum 11 to theinitial position based on the position of the two-dimensional barcode240 and the extracted sheet number.

In S23, the one-chip CPU 301 sets the default setting of the variablesof the RAM to the data below. The ModeNo to 0, StepNo to 1, Age to 10which is equivalent to the age of a student in the fourth year inelementary school, Focus to 0, Language to JP which indicates Japanese,Experience to “No experience” and Place to “Planetarium A” and moves onto S24.

In S24, the one-chip CPU 301 accesses to an internet server via anetwork communication system. In the access, the data below is read fromthe information relating to the starry sky which is recorded on theserver. The data read here is based on the ModeNo and StepNo read inS23. Time which indicates the duration, SceneNo which indicates thescene number, Trig which indicates the transiting condition andMaxStepNo which indicates the number of steps included in the mode.After the data is recorded to the RAM, it moves on to S25.

In S25, the one-chip CPU accesses to the internet server via a networkcommunication system and reads the scene information which correspondsto the SceneNo and records the data to the storage area of the RAM.After recording the data, it moves on to S26. Here, the data of thescene information includes information such as those which are indicatedin FIG. 68 and a storage area is set within the RAM to record the data.

In S26, the one-chip CPU 301 drives the drum drive motor 1104 toposition either of the first starry sky reproducing sheet 200 a-200 c infront of the lightbox 100 corresponding to the sheet number SheetNoincluded inside the scene information recorded in S25. Specifically,when the SheetNo is 1, the first starry sky reproducing sheet 200 a isset. When SheetNo is 2 the second sheet 200 b is set, and when theSheetNo is 3, the third starry sky reproducing sheet 200 c is set. Afterthe sheet is positioned, the one-chip CPU 301 sets the data whichindicates the luminance and amount of scintillation of each LED element,which is included in the scene information.

After the data is set, the one-chip CPU 301 drives each LED element atthe designated luminance and amount of scintillation during the programS201 of processing the interruption for the lighting control timer. Thenumber of LED elements is large so the detail of the data structure isomitted here.

Furthermore, the one-chip CPU 301 drives the filter disk drive motor1608 via the motor drive means to change the filter disk 1603 to thetype dedicated in the filter setting data “Filter” which is included inthe scene information. Also, the one-chip CPU 301 drives the displayunit drive motor 1505 to move the display unit 15 to the positiondedicated in the position data “DisplayPos” which is also included inthe scene information.

Specifically, the one-chip CPU 301 drives the filter disk drive motor1608 so that when the Filter is 1, the high light reduction filter 1605is positioned. When it is 2, medium light reduction filter 1606 ispositioned. When 3, the low light reduction filter 1607 is positionedand when Filter is 0, window 1604 without a filter is positioned.

Also, the one-chip CPU 301 drives the display unit drive motor 1505 toposition display unit corresponding to the data which is input toDispPos. When DispPos is 1, display unit 15 is positioned to the firstposition (the display position) and when it is 2, display unit 15 ispositioned to the second position (the evacuation position). After thisaction, the one-chip CPU 301 moves on to S261.

In S261, the one-chip CPU 301 inputs the identification information ofthe observer (MyID) which is included in the ID card 831 the observer 83holds. MyID is read by the identification information reading device 832and inputs the data via the means of input. Then the one-chip CPU 301retrieves the observer information based on the MyID which relates tothe observer 83 from the observer database placed on the internet.Observer information includes the data mentioned below. The age (MyAge),the language used (MyLanguage), the correction value of the focus of thetelescope (MyFocus), the list of the observation experiences in the past(MyExperience) and information about the handicap the observer has(MyHandy).

The one-chip CPU 301 sets each data to the designated storage area inthe RAM and moves on to S262. That is, MyAge to “Age”, MyLanguage to“Language”, Myfocus to “Focus”, MyExperiece to observer's experiencelist “Experience” and MyHandy to Handicap “Handy”. If reading the MyIDfails, the set value in the RAM is not updated.

In S262, the one-chip CPU 301 checks whether the number of theobservation experience information ExperienceNo inside the sceneinformation is included in the list “Experience”. If the same number isincluded, the observer has already experienced that particularobservation experience so number 1 is input to the flag “ExperienceMach”which is used to determine whether or not the observer has experiencedthat particular observation. If the same number is not included, thenumber is reset to 0 in the “ExperienceMach”. After this operation itmoves on to S263.

In S263, the one-chip CPU 301 reads the type of eyepiece that isdetected by the eyepiece detection sensor 25 and input the data to thelist of optical information of the telescope, “ScopeInfo” with theinformation about the objective lens of the telescope. After thisoperation it moves on to S264.

In S264, the one-chip CPU 301 inputs the rotational position of theZ-axis sensor and H-axis sensor of dummy telescope 3. Then theinformation relating to the coordinate in the sky of dome 4 and thedirection of the dummy telescope 3 is calculated and input to the listof direction of view “DumyPos” and then moves on to S265.

In S265, the one-chip CPU 301 uses the set value in “Place”, “SceneNo”,“Age”, “Language”, “ExperienceMach”, “Handy”, “ScopeInfo”, “DumyPos” asa parameter and reads the images and information mentioned below fromthe internet server. The image displayed on display 1501, imagedisplayed by projector 1601, image of sight 61 on display which is addedto the image from the projection device 6 to project the whole sky andimages or information the commentator refers to during the comment. Theone-chip CPU 301 displays the image with each display device, sends thereference information to the device the commentator holds and the moveson to S266. The kind of image or reference information that should beretrieved for each parameter is mentioned in the description below.

It should be noted that the method of retrieving information in S265does not have to be limited to the process of the one-chip CPU 301mentioned here. If the one-chip CPU 301 is made to retrieve theappropriate information based on the set value of “Place”, “SceneNo”,“Age”, “Language”, “ExperienceMach”, “Handy”, “ScopeInfo”, “DumyPos”,other methods can be used.

In S266, the one-chip CPU 301 drives the drawtube drive motor 23 via themotor drive means to correct the position of the focus between telescope2 and eyepiece 27, based on the value of “Focus”. After this operationit moves on to S267. It should be noted that the one-chip CPU 301operates under the focus correction program described below in parallelto the main routine. So, the focus position of the eyepiece 27 oftelescope 2 is corrected successively and the change is instantlyreflected on the “Focus” in the RAM.In S27, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether the time passed after S24 islonger than the time of “Timer”. If NO, S27 is repeated until it turnsto YES. If YES, it moves on to S28.In S28, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether the value of “Trig” is 0(automatically moves on to the next step after a period of time). IfYES, it moves on to S32 and if NO, it moves on to S29.In S29, the one-chip CPU 301 refers to the information “KeyNo” whichindicates the detection and setting in the operation of the button ofthe infrared remote control, during the process for the interruption ofthe remote control signal. Whether the “0” button was pushed is judgedand if it is YES, it moves on to S32. If NO, it moves on to S30.In S30, the one-chip CPU 301 refers to the “KeyNo” and judges whethereither of the buttons 1 to 8 were pushed. If YES, it moves on to S35 andwhen it is NO, it moves to S31.In S31, the one-chip CPU 301 refers to the “KeyNo” and judges whetherthe button 9, which indicates the change of the observer, was pushed. IfYES, it moves on to S37 and when it is NO, it returns to S26.In S37, the one-chip CPU 301 sends the observer identificationinformation (MyID), the observation experience information(ExperienceNo) and the focus correction value (Focus) to the internetserver. The information on the observer database is updated based on theMyID and then moves on to S38. Specifically, the observation experienceinformation (ExperienceNo) is added to the list of history about theobservation experience in the past (MyExperience) and the focuscorrection value (MyFocus) is updated to the new value (Focus).In S38, the one-chip CPU 301 sends the value of the observeridentification information (MyID) and the data of the observation place(Place) and the current time to the internet server. After operating theone-chip CPU 301 to add a record of the MyID and time as an element tothe observer database, which is prepared for each observation place(Place) it returns to S26.In S35, the one-chip CPU 301 sets the number of the button of KeNO (1 to8) to the ModeNo and moves on to S36. In S36, the one-chip CPU 301initializes the StepNo to 1 and then returns to S24, then starts anotheroperation based on the next button that is pushed.In S32, the one-chip CPU 301 adds 1 to the value of StepNo and moves onto S33.In S33, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether the value of StepNo exceedsthe MaxStepNo. If NO, it returns to S24 and if it is YES, it moves on toS34.In S34, the one-chip CPU 301 changes the ModeNo to 1 if the currentModeNo is at the greatest value. If not, 1 is added to the value ofModeNo and then returns to S24.

Next, we will explain about the operation to correct the focus whichoperates in parallel to the main routine, based on the flowchart in FIG.66.

In S50, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether the value in KeyNo ispositive. If YES, it moves on to S54 and if NO, it moves on to S51.

In S51, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether the value in KeyNo isnegative. If YES, it moves on to S55 and if NO, it moves on to S52.

In S52, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether the operational state of thefocus adjustment button 2302 of telescope 2 is at positive. If YES, itmoves on to S54 and if it is NO, it moves on to S53.

In S53, the one-chip CPU 301 judges whether the operational state of thefocus adjustment button 2302 of telescope 2 is at negative. If YES, itmoves on to S55 and if it is NO, it returns to S50.

In S54, the one-chip CPU 301 adds 1 to the value in “Focus” and moves onto S56.

In S55, the one-chip CPU 301 subtracts 1 from the value in “Focus” andmoves on to S56.

In S56, the one-chip CPU 301 verifies if the value in “Focus” is insidea designated range. If the value is not in range, it is adjusted so itfits inside the range and then the drawtube 24 is driven back and forthby the drawtube drive motor 23 to position the eyepiece 27 to thedesignated focus position based on the focus correction value in“Focus”,

In Embodiment 2, the one-chip CPU 301 operates in the same routine asthe interruption for the input of the remote control signal in FIG. 20and the interruption for the lighting control timer in FIG. 21.

Next, we will explain about the operation and the operational advantageof Embodiment 2 following along the flow of the planetarium program. Theoperation of the one-chip CPU 301 is already described above. So onlythe distinctive features are explained from here, by indicating the stepnumber in the flowchart.

In Embodiment 2, the planetarium program is divided into 6 parts andprovides different star observation experiences in an effective andefficient way.

In the first part, star observation experience similar to theconventional projection planetarium is provided to the audience 81sitting on the audience seats 7. In the experience, the audienceobserves the location of the constellations and the movement of starswith the naked eye. In Embodiment 2, the audience observes the positionof the Orion 50, the position of the moon 54 and its diurnal motion withthe naked eye, as shown in FIG. 36.

Specifically, the commentator operates the starry sky reproducing device1 before the admittance of the audience into the planetarium. Then theprogram on one-chip CPU 301 starts to run and the value for theinitialized state is set in S23. After S23, S24 and S25 operates so thescene information based on the scene number SceneNo 0 dedicated by“ModeNo 0” and “StepNo 1” is read from the server.

Next in S26, the first starry sky reproducing sheet 200 a is positionedin front of the lightbox 100 based on the scene information, LEDelements are turned off, display 1501 is positioned at the evacuationposition and the filter disk 1603 is set on the high light reductionfilter 1605. In S265, a pitch black image is retrieved from the internetserver to display on display 1501 and projector 1601 and a state withoutan image is retrieved for the image added to the projection device 6 toproject the whole sky. Therefore, the starry sky reproducing device 1 isat a stand-by state which nothing is projected from it.

In the retrieved reference information for the commentator are theaudience database and the search results mentioned below. In otherwords, the internet server detects all the audience's MyID who hasvisited the place of observation “Place” within 30 minutes from thepresent time, from the audience database. Then the observer informationis extracted from the observer database based on the MyID and thensummarized, and sent to the one-chip CPU 301. Therefore, the informationof the audience is displayed on the commentator's device.

After a short wait time in S27, the one-chip CPU 301 repeats the loop,S26->S261->S262->S263->S264->S265->S266->S27->S28->S29->S30->S31->S26until either of the button 0 to 9 of the infrared remote control 111 isoperated, because the value in “Trig” is 1 until the operation.

The commentator holds the observer identification information readingdevice 832 to the ID card 831 each audience who enters the planetariumpossesses. Then at S261 in the loop above, the one-chip CPU 301 detectsthe observer identification information “MyID”. After this, thecommentator presses the button “9” of the infrared remote control 111which then the one-chip CPU 301 detects the operation at S31 and at S38after S37, the chip is operated to add the audience's MyID and thecurrent time to the audience database on the internet server. After thisoperation is completed, it returns to S26. Therefore, when the one-chipCPU 301 does the operation in S265 next time, the added informationabout the observer information of the audience is displayed on thedevice of the commentator.

On the commentator's device after all the audience has entered theplanetarium, are the observer information for all of the audience.Therefore, the commentator can check the age group, the presence of anaudience whose mother tongue is not Japanese, the presence of anaudience who needs a subtitle and optimize the commentary contents andguidance contents for the audience by getting hold of the tendency inthe observation experiences of the past. Due to this feature, targetcapacity 11, “Providing commentary information depending on theobserver.” is realized.

In that case, the audience seats 7 can be secured at the conventionalposition because the starry sky reproducing device 1, although it isnon-operating, is placed near the wall of dome 4. Also the telescope 2'sposition, where it is not placed near the star projecting device 5 helpssecuring the position of audience seat 7. Therefore, in the case of theaudience 81 observing the stars reproduced on the surface of dome 4, theeffect of deformation in the position of stars is minimum. So targetcapacity 5, “no deformation in the position of stars” is realized.Although it is not explained in the embodiment, the present inventioncan be applied to project subtitles from projector 1601 of the starrysky reproducing device 1 for the audience who has problems in hearingand cannot hear the commentary.

In the second part, an experience to observe the Orion, which isreproduced by the starry sky reproducing device 1, with the naked eye orwith a telescope is provided to audience 7 after guiding the audiencenear to the starry sky reproducing device 1.

Specifically, the commentator pushes the button 1 of the infrared remotecontrol 111. Then the one-chip CPU 301 moves from S30 to S35. In S35,“ModeNo” is set to 1 and in S36 “StepNo” is set to 1. Then it moves onto S24 and S25 and there, it reads the scene information from the serverbased on the scene number, “SceneNo 1” which is dedicated by “ModeNo 1”and “StepNo 1”.

In S26, the first starry sky reproducing sheet 200 a is positioned infront of light box 100 based on the scene information, the LED elementsare lit at a designated luminance, display 1501 is positioned at theevacuation position and the filter disk 1603 is set on the high lightreduction filter 1605.

In S265, the image displayed on display 1501 and projector 1601 are bothpitch black and there is no image added to the projection device 6 toproject the whole sky. Therefore, only the starry sky reproduced by thefirst starry sky reproducing sheet 200 a can be observed. Moreover theinformation displayed on the commentator's device is same as theinformation in the first part. That is, the observer information of allof the audience.

After a short wait time, the one-chip CPU 301 in S27 repeats the loopS26->S261->S262->S263->S264->S265->S266->S27->S28->S29->S30->S31->S26until either of the button 0 to 9 of the infrared remote control 111 isoperated because the value of “Trig” stays at 1 until the operation.Therefore, the reproduction of the Orion 50 is maintained as shown inFIG. 38.

Subsequently, the commentator divides the audience 7 sitting on theaudience seats 7 into a few groups and guides the group to a position alittle away from the starry sky reproducing device 1. Then thecommentator provides the guided audience 82 an experience to observe thestarry sky with binoculars 9 and taking pictures with digital camera 10.Here, as mentioned in Embodiment 1, the starry sky reproducing device 1has realized target capacity 1 to 4 so it can provide an experience toobserve a high-definition starry sky. Also, the commentator can refer tothe observer information on the device so the commentary content can beoptimized in accordance with the group. Therefore, target capacity 11,“Providing commentary information depending on the observer.” isrealized.

In the third part, an experience to introduce nebulas or star clusters,which a scattered in a narrow area in space, into the field of view isprovided to audience 84 who has moved near to the dummy telescope. TheOrion is a good example to introduce here. An experience to observe thenebulas and star clusters with telescope 2 is provided to audience 83.

Specifically, the commentator firstly guides the audience to theposition where the telescope 2 is placed. Then, the commentator pressesthe button 2 of the infrared remote control 111. This operation movesthe one-chip CPU 301 from S30 to S35. In S35, the value 2 is input to“ModeNo” and in S36, the value 1 is input to “StepNo”. Then it moves onto S24 and S25 and reads the scene information based on scene number“SceneNo 2” which is dedicated by “ModeNo 2” and “StepNo 1”, from theserver.

In S26, the one-chip CPU 301 keeps the position of the first starry skyreproducing sheet 200 a in front of light box 100, turns off the LEDelements and changes the state to a state where the transmitted-lightstar, printed luminous star and light-emitting element star is notreproduced. The one-chip CPU 301 positions display 1501 to theevacuating position, the second position and sets the filter disk 1603to the window 1604 without a filter.

In S261, the one-chip CPU 301 reads the observer identificationinformation (MyID) from the ID card the observer 83 looking into theeyepiece 27 of telescope 2 has and retrieves the information unique tothe observer 83, from the server.

Next in S263, the one-chip CPU reads the optical information of thetelescope “ScopeInfo” and calculates the information in the direction ofview, “DumyPos” in S264.

In S265, the one-chip CPU 301 retrieves the images below for eachelement.

For displaying on display 1501, a pitch black image is retrieved. Forprojector 1601, an introduction image of stars which is observed in thearea of view. The image is led from the direction of view 31, of wherethe dummy telescope 3 is facing and the optical information of thetelescope, “ScopeInfo”. For the projection device 6 to project the wholesky, an image showing the area of view in a circle (circle cursor 61) isdisplayed, which is led by the direction of view 31 of dummy telescope 3and the optical information of the telescope, “ScopeInfo”. Theinformation displayed on the commentator's device is observerinformation of all of the audience, as same as the ones displayed in thefirst part.

Here, the filter disk 1603 is set on window 1604 without a filter so theluminance of the introduction image of the starry sky projected byprojector 1601 becomes the highest. Therefore, the luminance of thestarry sky reproduced by starry sky reproducing device 1 the observer 83observes can be made to a similar luminance as observing the actualstarry sky.

Here, if the audience 84 is pointing the dummy telescope 3 to thedirection of view 31 in FIG. 36, that is, in the direction of the skynear the tristar 51 of the Orion 50, the introduction image shown inFIG. 41 is retrieved. Also, by the image added to the projection device6 to project the whole sky, a circle cursor 61 is indicated in theposition in FIG. 36.

In S266, the one-chip CPU 301 corrects the difference in the diopter ofobserver 83 by updating the focus position of telescope 2 basing on thefocus correction value “Focus”. Therefore, the observer can observe thestarry sky at an appropriate focus. In this way, the starry skyreproducing device of Embodiment 2 can provide efficient observationexperience to multiple observer 83 with different diopter when takingturns in using the telescope 2 because the focus is automaticallyadjusted in accordance to the observer. So, target capacity 10, “Makingthe setting efficient” is realized.

Continuously in S27, the one-chip CPU 301 immediately moves to S28 aftera short wait time and then moves to S29 because the value in “Trig”is 1. Here, the commentator does not operate the infrared remote control111 for a period of time so the one-chip CPU 301 repeats the loopS29->S30->S31->S26->S261->S262->S263->S264->S265->S266->S27->S28->S29.

The one-chip CPU 301 repeats the loop above in a short period of time.So, when audience 84 changes the direction of view 31 of dummy telescope3, the introduction image of the starry sky and the position of thecursor 61 is updated in a brief time corresponding to the direction ofview 31. Therefore, audience 83 can check the area of the sky they areobserving with cursor 61 while looking into eyepiece 27 of telescope 2.So, target capacity 9, “Grasping the position of the telescope-observedstar in the sky” is realized.

Specifically, when audience 84 moves the direction of view 31 of dummytelescope 3 from the direction of the tristar 51 of the Orion to thelower right of FIG. 41, the star 5201 located most north in the smalltristar of Orion comes into the area of view of telescope 2, observed byaudience 83. As shown in FIG. 43, when audience 84 moves the directionof view 31 more to the lower right, the small tristar 5201 and 5202,star 5204 in the great nebula of Orion and diffuse nebula 5203 comesinto the area of view of telescope 2 which is observed by audience 83.

In S265, the server is desired to operate in the way mentioned below,when retrieving the image after the one-chip CPU 301 sends the data“DumyPos” and “ScopeInfo” to the server. That is, the server inputs thedata of “DumyPos” and “ScopeInfo” and judges whether the image if thegreat nebula of Orion 5203 is included in the area of view of telescope2. If it is included, the server is desired to send an image of thecommentary information of the nebula indicated in the position of thegreat nebula of Orion to the one-chip CPU 301. When this is done,appropriate commentary information is indicated inside the area of viewof telescope 2 and this raises the quality of learning.

Here, audience 84 who operates dummy telescope 3 can operate thetelescope while checking the direction of view 31 of the dummy telescope3. Therefore it has an effect on effective learning experience inintroducing celestial objects. So, target capacity 7, “Providingexperience in introducing a celestial object” is realized.

The number of telescope 2 is limited, so audience 83 in a large numbertake turns in observing through telescope 2. When audience 83 observingwith the telescope changes, the one-chip CPU 301 reads in S261, the“MyID” from the ID card 831 the audience has. Based on the “MyID”, theobserver information of audience 83 is read and the “Age”, “Language”,focus correcting value “Focus”, data of observation experiences in thepast “Experience” and handicap information “Handy” is updated. As aresult, if the mother tongue of audience 83 is English, “Language” ischanged to English. Therefore in S265, the commentary informationretrieved in FIG. 43 for example, changes from “The Orion Nebula(inJapanese)” to “The Orion Nebula(in English).” Furthermore, if thehandicap information “Handy” shows that “Subtitle needed” which meansthat the audience has a problem in hearing, an image with the commentaryinformation the commentator is supposed to speak, written in words isretrieved. Therefore, it has an effect on raising the quality oflearning by retrieving the appropriate information for each audience 83.So, target capacity 11, “Providing commentary information depending onthe observer.” is realized.

Here the commentator operates the button 9 of the infrared remotecontrol 111 when the audience 83 observing with the telescope changes.Then the operation of the one-chip CPU 301 moves on from S31 to S37 andupdates the data of “MyExperience” and “MyFocus” within the observerinformation of audience 83 recorded on the server. Therefore, the effectof the present invention is continuously provided by the operation ofthe one-chip CPU 301 based on the updated observer information ofaudience 83 even when the audience 83 observes with telescope 2 in thefourth part and later.

In the fourth part, an experience to observe the great nebula of Orionwith telescope 2 in more detail is provided to audience 83.Specifically, the commentator first presses the button 3 of the infraredremote control 111. Then the one-chip CPU 301 moves on from S30 to S35.In S35, the value of “ModeNo” is set to 3, and in S36 the value of“StepNo” is set to 1 and then the process move on to S24, S25 and readsthe scene information based on the scene number “SceneNo 3” which isindicated by “ModeNo 3” and “StepNo 1” from the server.

In S26, the one-chip CPU 301 positions the second starry sky reproducingsheet 200 b in front of light box 100 and lights the LED elements at adesignated luminance. Then, the starry sky shown in FIG. 39 can beobserved by the transmitted-light star, printed luminous star andlight-emitting element star of the second starry sky reproducing sheet200 b. Also, the one-chip CPU 301 positions the display 1501 to theevacuating position, the second position and sets the filter disk 1603on the high reduction filter 1605.

In S265, the one-chip CPU 301 retrieves a pitch black image to displayon display 1501 and an image which shows the diffuse nebula 5203 and thedark stars in the great nebula of Orion to display on the projector1601. Therefore, on the surface of the second starry sky reproducingsheet 200 b, the image shown in FIG. 44 is projected and the observercan observe the image and the reproduced starry sky by thetransmitted-light star, printed luminous star and light-emitting elementstar of the second starry sky reproducing sheet 200 b shown in FIG. 39at the same time. Also by the one-chip CPU 301, an image to show acircle cursor 61, which is led by the optical information of thetelescope “ScopeInfo” and the ratio of the magnification of the sky bythe starry sky reproducing device “DispMag” is positioned in thedirection of view 31 which the dummy telescope inside the dome 4directs, is added to the image of the projection device 6 to project thewhole sky. Furthermore, the one-chip CPU 301 retrieves the commentaryinformation about the great nebula of Orion to display on thecommentator's device.

Here, the filter disk 1603 is set on the high light reduction filter1605 so the luminance of the gas clouds of the diffuse nebula 5203 inthe great nebula of Orion and places where dark stars are located can bekept low. Therefore, the high luminance places can be barely observedthrough telescope 2 with the naked eye, while the dark places cannot beobserved without taking pictures. This observation experience providessimilar experience to the actual observation of the gas clouds in thegreat nebula or the observation of the dark stars.

Therefore, the starry sky reproducing device 1 in Embodiment 2 canreproduce much darker stars than the stars reproduced by the starry skyreproducing sheet 200 by the effect of projector 1601 and high lightreduction filter 1605. So, it has an effect on enlarging the width ofthe luminance reproduced by the transmitted-light star, printed luminousstar and light-emitting element star (The dynamic range) of starry skyreproducing sheet 200. So, target capacity 1 “Creating a wide dynamicrange” can be achieved at a higher level.

Next, the commentator presses the button 4 of the infrared remotecontrol 111. Then the operation of one-chip CPU 301 moves on to S35 and“ModeNo” is set to 4. In S36, the “StepNo” is set to 1 and then it moveson to S25 and S26, where the scene information is read from the serverbased on the scene number “SceneNo4” indicated by “ModeNo4” and“StepNo1”.

In S26, the one-chip CPU 301 keeps the position of the second starry skyreproducing sheet 200 b in front of lightbox 100 and drives the LEDelements so that the luminance of the transmitted-light star, printedluminous star and light-emitting element star are all 16 times largerthan that of when the scene number is set to “SceneNo 3”. As a result,compared to when the value of “ModeNo” is 3, stars which are about 3magnitudes darker can be reproduced here. The one-chip CPU 301 positionsthe display 1501 to the evacuating position, the second position andsets the filter disk 1603 on the medium light reduction filter 1606.

In S265, the one-chip CPU 301 retrieves the images which are displayedon display 1501, ones dedicated on projector 1601 and ones added to theprojection device 6 to project the whole sky The images retrieved hereis the exact same as the images retrieved when the scene number“SceneNo” is 3. Also, the information retrieved to display on thecommentator's device is a commentary information of the explanationabout the image which shows the great nebula of Orion observed with atelescope that has a caliber 4 times larger in size.

Here, the degree of light reduction of the medium light reduction filter1606 is one sixteenth of that of the high light reduction filter so theluminance of the gas clouds of the diffuse nebula 5203 or dark starsprojected by projector 1601 is 16 times larger compared to that of whenthe scene number is “SceneNo 3”. Therefore, the luminance of the starrysky reproduced by the starry sky reproducing device 1 is reproduced 16times larger compared to the reproduced sky in scene number “SceneNo 3”.So, an observation experience similar to when observing the sky with ahigh performance telescope with a caliber of the lens 4 times larger insize compared to telescope 2 can be provided. A large and expensivelarge diameter telescope is not needed so it has an effect in reducingthe purchase cost. So, target capacity 4 “A low cost method” can berealized. Also, multiple telescopes is not needed inside the dome 4 andthe change in the setting is also not needed, so it has an effect onproviding an efficient observation experience. So, target capacity 10,“Efficient setting conditions” is realized.

In the fifth part, an experience to observe in detail, the trapezium5204 located in the center of the great nebula of Orion and experienceto take a picture with digital camera 28 is provided to the audience 83.

Specifically, the commentator first presses the button 5 of infraredremote control 111. Then the operation moves on from S30 to S35. In S35the value of “ModeNo” is set to 5 and in S36, the “StepNo” is set to 1.Then the operation moves to S24 and S25 and the scene information isread based on the scene number “SceneNo 5” dedicated by “ModeNo 5” and“StepNo 1”.In S26, the third starry sky reproducing sheet 200 c is positioned infront of lightbox 100, the LED elements are lit at the standardluminance and the starry sky in FIG. 40, which is made by thetransmitted-light star, printed luminous star and light-emitting elementstar of the third starry sky reproducing sheet 200 c, can be observed.Also, display 1501 is positioned in the evacuation position, the secondposition and filter disk 1603 is set on the high light reducing filter1605.In S265, a pitch black image is retrieved for the display 1501, and animage of gas clouds and dark stars around the trapezium 5204 in thecenter of the great nebula of the Orion is retrieved for the projector1601. Therefore, the image shown in FIG. 45 is projected on the surfaceof the third starry sky reproducing sheet 200 c and the observer canobserve it at the same time with the starry sky shown in FIG. 40,reproduced by the transmitted-light star, printed luminous star andlight-emitting element star of the third starry sky reproducing sheet200 c.Next, an image to show a circle cursor 61, which is led by the opticalinformation of the telescope “ScopeInfo” and the ratio of themagnification of the sky by the starry sky reproducing device “DispMag”is positioned in the direction of view 31 which the dummy telescopeinside the dome 4 directs, show the area of sight and is added to theimage of the projection device 6 to project the whole sky. Theinformation retrieved to display on the commentator's device, iscommentary information relating to the trapezium 5204 in the greatnebula of Orion.Here, the filter disk 1603 is set on the high light reduction filter1605 as same as the fourth part so the luminance of the gas clouds anddark stars in the center of the great nebula of Orion projected fromprojector 1601 is kept low. Also, the high luminance part can be seenthrough telescope 2 with the naked eye, but the dark part cannot beobserved except for when a picture is taken. For these features, anobservation experience similar to observing the actual gas clouds anddark stars can be provided.Here, audience 83 operates the knob 2601 of the telescope 2 to positionthe flap mirror to the second position. Then the light of the stars fromthe objective lens 22 is reflected by the flap mirror 26 and is guidedto the digital camera 28. The audience 83 uses the digital camera 28 totake a picture of the central part of the great nebula of Orion.Then, the dark areas which were not able to recognize with the nakedeye, is taken by the digital camera 28. Through these operations, anobservation experience which is similar to the actual observation of thegas clouds and dark stars in the nebula is provided.Like above, the observation target can be enlarged and observed withoutchanging the eyepiece 27 of telescope 2, so there is no need to changethe setting of the observation device, such as changing the eyepiece.Therefore, it has an effect on providing efficient observationexperience to the audience and target capacity 10, “Efficient settingconditions” is realized.Next, the commentator presses the button 0 of the infrared remotecontrol 111. The operation movse on from S28 to S32. In S32, the valuein “StepNo” becomes 2 and in S33, the value in “StepNo” does not exceedthe value “MaxStepNo”, so the operation moves on to S24 and S25. In S25,the scene information based on the scene number “SceneNo 6” dedicated by“ModeNo 5” and “StepNo 2” is read from the server.Then in S26, the third starry sky reproducing sheet 200 c is kept infront of lightbox 100 and the LED elements are driven so that theluminance is kept at a designated amount. Then, the starry sky shown inFIG. 40 can be observed by the transmitted-light star, printed luminousstar and light-emitting element star of the third starry sky reproducingsheet 200 c. Also, display 1501 is set to the evacuation position, thesecond position and the filter disk 1603 is set on the medium lightreducing filter 1606.Then in S265, a pitch black image to show on display 1501 is retrieved.Also, an image which shows the field intensity around the trapezium inthe center of the great nebula of Orion, taken by a radio telescope isretrieved to display on projector 1601. Therefore, the image shown inFIG. 46 is projected on the surface of the third starry sky reproducingsheet 200 c. The observer observes the starry sky in FIG. 40 reproducedby the transmitted-light star, printed luminous star and light-emittingelement star of the third starry sky reproducing sheet 200 c as well asthe image of the field intensity near the central part of the Orion.

As mentioned above, even if the starry sky reproducing sheet used is thesame (starry sky reproducing sheet 200 c), the image projected can bechanged by using projector 1601. Therefore, the observer can experiencean artificial observation that cannot be experienced when only lookingat stars through an optical telescope. From the experience, it has aneffect on deepening the understanding on the stars.

In the sixth part, an experience to observe the moon 54 with twotelescope 2 is provided to the audience 83. Specifically, thecommentator firstly presses the button 6 of the infrared remote control111. Then the operation moves from S30 to S35. In S35, the value“ModeNo” is set to 6 and in S36 “StepNo” is set to 1. The process moveson to S24 and S25 and reads the data based on the scene number “SceneNo7” dedicated by “ModeNo 6” and “StepNo 1” from the server.

In S26, the first starry sky reproducing sheet 200 a is positioned infront of lightbox 100 and the LED elements are turned off. Display 1501is positioned at the evacuation position, the second position and thefilter disk 1603 is set on the window 1604 without a filter.

In S265, a pitch black image is retrieved to show on display 1501 and afull image of the moon is retrieved to display on the projector 1601.Therefore, an image shown in FIG. 47 is projected on the starry skyreproducing device 1.

Next, an image to show a circle cursor 61, which is led by the opticalinformation of the telescope “ScopeInfo” and the ratio of themagnification of the sky by the starry sky reproducing device “DispMag”is positioned in the direction of view 31 which the dummy telescopeinside the dome 4 directs, show the area of sight and is added to theimage of the projection device 6 to project the whole sky. For theinformation shown on the commentator's device, commentary informationrelating to the moon is retrieved.

Here, the moon wanes and waxes, but by projecting the moon of thedesired age by projector 1601, it has an effect to respond flexibly.

The commentator then presses the button 0 of the infrared remote control111. The operation moves from S28 to S32 and the value of “StepNo”becomes 2 in S32. In S33 the value of “StepNo” does not exceed the valuein “MaxStepNo” so it moves on to S24 and S25. In S25, scene informationbased on the scene number “SceneNo 8” dedicated by “ModeNo 6” and“StepNo 2” is read from the server. Then in S26, the first starry skyreproducing sheet 200 a is positioned in front of lightbox 100 and theLED elements are turned off. Display 1501 is moved to the firstposition, the display position and filter disk 1603 is set on the window1604 without a filter.

In S265, the image that is displayed on the display 1501 is retrieved.At this time, the server detects the optical ratio in the observationfrom the information included in the optical information of thetelescope “ScopeInfo” such as the information of the objective lens andthe eyepiece. When the magnification is low, the image of the cratershown in FIG. 49 is sent to the one-chip CPU 301. When the magnificationis high, commentary information in detail which shows the location ofthe crater can be seen so, as shown in FIG. 51, an image of the craterwith commentary information displayed is sent to the one-chip CPU 301.Also, for displaying on the projector 1601, an image of the waningcrater of the moon, shown in FIG. 48 is retrieved. Here, in the imageshown in FIG. 48, the central part where display 1501 is located, isblack. So, as shown n FIG. 50 when the observer observes it with theimage of the crater on display 1501, a continuous surface of the moonwithout joints can be observed.

Here, the one-chip CPU 301 detects the change in the eyepiece in S263 ifthe observer changes the magnification ratio of telescope 2 by changingthe eyepiece 27. Then the optical information of the telescope isupdated. As a result, the image retrieved to display on display 1501 isat an appropriate magnification, for when observing at the presentstate. Therefore, it has an effect that an appropriate commentaryinformation is automatically provided corresponding to the opticalsettings.

As explained above, in the first part of Embodiment 2, when observingthe whole sky with the naked eye, the starry sky is reproduced by usingthe conventional projection planetarium. In the second to sixth part,the part of the sky which is used to observe with binoculars, telescopesand digital cameras is reproduced by using the starry sky reproducingdevice 1. So, Embodiment 2 has an effect to provide an effectiveobservation experience which follows the flow of the observationprogram.

The starry sky reproducing device 1 can be used by changing multiplestarry sky reproducing sheets so it has an effect to realize the targetcapacity 8 of the device, “Observing multiple celestial objects on thesky.” Observation experience can be easily provided to compare thenebulas and star clusters included in the constellations positioned inthe opposite direction on the sky with a telescope. For example, theSagittarius in the summer galaxy and the Orion in the winter galaxy, theBerenice's Hair in the galactic north pole and the Sculptor in thegalactic south pole.

The starry sky reproducing device 1 of Embodiment 2, equally realizesthe target capacity 1, target capacity 2, target capacity 3, targetcapacity 4 explained in Embodiment 1. So there is no need to give a hightarget capacity to the star projection device 5 or to the projectionapparatus 6 for the whole sky to correspond to the observation in detailwith telescope 2. What is needed is to give target capacity 1, targetcapacity 2, target capacity 3 to the starry sky reproducing device 1which partially reproduces the starry sky. Thus, by using the starry skyreproducing device 1 of the present invention and make use of it withthe conventional projection planetarium, the present invention has anexcellent effect which can realize the target at a high level.

In Embodiment 2, starry sky reproducing device 1 and telescope 2 isplaced at the position mentioned above. So the number of audience seats7 that can be secured near the star projection device 5 placed near thecenter of dome 4, where the deformation in the position is not observedmuch, can be added. Also, the starry sky reproducing device 1 is placedbelow the horizon 41, so it does not disturb the observation from theaudience seat 7 when observing near the horizon.

The distance between the starry sky reproducing device 1 and telescope 2can be taken long within the dome 4, so when using an astronomicaltelescope on the market, which is designed to observe stars at infinity,the divergence in the position of focus can be made smaller compared tothe conventional technology. Also, because the distance between thestarry sky reproducing device 1 and telescope 2 can be taken as long aspossible, in an observation where multiple telescope 2 is used toobserve 1 starry sky reproducing device 1, the angle between the normalvector of the starry sky reproducing device 1 and the line connectingthe device and the telescope can be made small. So, the deformation inthe position of the stars that is observed is small too. Therefore,target capacity 5, “No deformation in the position of the stars” isrealized.

In the existing types of dome 4 of the projection planetarium, there aretwo types. Horizontal type, which are shown in FIG. 36 and FIG. 37 andinclined type, which is shown in FIG. 35. As shown in FIG. 35, inclinedtype of dome 4 gives the observer a realistic sense similar to theactual star observation due to the elevation angle that is causedbetween the starry sky reproducing device 1 and telescope 2 when placedin the position of the figure.

Next, we will explain about the mobile starry sky reproducing devicewhich is used to provide star observation experiences to areas without aplanetarium facilities by making a trip to the school or concert halland so on in the area. This mobile starry sky reproducing devicecorresponds to Embodiments 3, 4, and 5. In these embodiments, multiplestarry sky reproducing sheet 200 are used to reproduce a wide area ofthe starry sky. Also, the starry sky reproducing sheet 200 can be madecompact and be carried easily, it is suitable for providing a starobservation experience by taking a trip.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 70 is a perspective view of starry sky reproducing device ofEmbodiment 3. FIG. 71 is its sectional view. As the view illustrates,the dome-shape is formed by the connection of the 3001, the partialstrip form planar material. It has the entrance 3019 for observers inthe dome.

Also, it has the foot section 3002 and weight 3003 to avoid the airleak. The fan 3004 and blast pipe 3005 are go through the foot section,and that makes possible to send air into inside with constant pressure.It makes maintain the dome-shape by controlling air pressure, inside ofthe dome is higher than outside, and the 3001 will form dome-shape withthe air-pressure inside.The UV lamp 3006 lights up the surface of the first paper layer throughthe UV light with constant brightness magnitude. It has the astronomicaltelescope 3007 and digital camera 3008 inside the dome. FIG. 72 is theview of the partial starry sky reproducing sheet 3001. The 3001 is thesame one with the sky sheet 200 on the Embodiment 1, but longitudinallylong. The foot section 3002 on the 3001 has the foot section-electronicsubstrate 3009, which has side-view type high light white LEDs with onechip CPU as emitting light. The optical fiber of the 3001 is fixed onthe location opposite to the emitting side of the light emitter with puttogether on the location of the 3009. The light emitter will becontrolled on constant brightness by one chip CPU.On between the light emitter and edge of the optical fiber, it fixedfilter to provide colors for stars. The foot electronic substrate hasthe battery 3010 to use power source for one chip CPU.FIG. 73 is the sectional view of connectional part of plural partialstarry sky reproducing sheet 3001. On the connectional part of the 3001,a separable connection means 3011, for example a zipper, is fixed. The3011 connects 2 partial starry sky reproducing sheets 3001. Theconnectional part does not have a function as laminated sheet forreproduce sky, so the part can not reproduce sky. To help the part,starry sky reproducing sheet of the joining segment 3014, which islaminating a starry sky reproducing sheet of the joining segment 3012,which is processed planar emission element as tape, and connectional skysheet 2013 is installed inside the connectional part of the 3001. Thanksto the 3014, the absence sky is covered and the joint part isunremarkable.The switch of organic Light-Emitting element to light up is controlledby the brightness magnitude through one chip CPU, the booster circuitprovided on the foot section electronic substrate. The starry skyreproducing sheet of the joining segment 3012 is also okey with themethod to be diffused light of LEDs through resin tape except organicLight-Emitting element.

Starry sky reproducing device 1 is settled in a facilities likeelementary schools or outside on daytime that has the light system 3015.The surface of the dome can be light up on constant brightness magnitudewith the 3015. Since light can not invade into the foot section 3002, itwill be completely darkness inside the dome. That will be the samecondition with the observation though the physical sky. It is possibleto observe light-emitting element star, printing stars, and transmittedlight through the 3001. As Embodiment 1 shows, that achieves targetcapacities 1-3, and 4 with light box 100, which helps cost down.

The part of the outside of the dome, it has the partial lighting system3020. The 3020 is make possible to raise the brightness magnitude oftransmitted light on specific areas.

Since Embodiment 3 does not have star projection machine 5 on the centerof the dome like ordinary starry sky reproducing device, the observerscan watch from the center. That means the achievement of target capacity5 ‘the location of the star without distortion’.

Since the 3001 forms Hemispherical-shape, it is possible to photographany objects though the sky. To do that, observer needs to bring themodel 3018, which the observers want to see. It does not have anytechnical issues then since the 3018 will be reproduced on the out-sideof the dome. Because of that, it can provide the photographic experienceof the star, and that means the achievement of target capacity 12.

On this part, we will refer on the assembling and dismantling method ofthe starry sky reproducing device 1 on Embodiment 3. Starry skyreproducing device 1 is formed dome shape by jointed plural partialstarry sky reproducing sheets 3001. Since the 3001 is formed by thelaminated sheets 220 which is multi-layer construction, it has technicalissues that is different from conventional air-domes. Ordinary air-domesare made with soft fabrics like cloth and plastic sheets. it is able tobe folded up and stored since the dome is made of plural planarstrip-shaped materials got garment manufacture processing and jointed.We can pump the air into the dome to form the air-dome shape at theobservation location.

On the other hand, starry sky reproducing device is formed by the 3001which is made up with the 220, and that means less tenderness than thesoft materials of air-dome. Because of the lack of the softness, it cancause trouble on the 220 to reproduce stars like irreversibledeformation. The 3001 is desirable to restored with dismantled planarstates and will be jointed when it is assembled as dome-shape.As FIG. 74 illustrate, step 1 is the blow: the 3001 is spread on theground 2016, and the top of the dome 3018 is jointed with the method3011 in range of not cause modification. A spindle 3003 is settled onthe 3001, and it is desired to use the top of the dome 3018 from insideas backup.The step 2: blast pipe 3005 from air blower 3004 is insert between thepartial starry sky reproducing sheet 3001 the ground 3016. It can makepossible to send air into enclosed region between 3001 and 3016. Sincethat, it is possible to keep the constant pressure in the region.The step 3: with keep working the 3004, it magnify the diameter bymoving the position of toric that press down the 3001, and do the joint3001. That makes the inside of the air-dome swells more.With continue the step 3, it is repeated until that the 3001 is formeddome-shape as FIG. 70 and that the 3001 is jointed to the foot sections3002.To dismantling the dome, it is dismantled as follow the step reverseorder.Embodiment 3 has above method to assemble and dismantle. It is efficientnot to cause unwanted deformation on the 3001.

Embodiment 4

FIG. 76 is a perspective view of starry sky reproducing device onEmbodiment 4. FIG. 77 is the cross-sectional view. As the viewillustrate, it has the assembled tent 3020 with shading curtain in theroom. The upright strut 3021 and ceiling beams 3022 are belong to thetent 3030, and also it has sheet type compass 2023 as well. The 3023.The partial starry sky reproducing sheet 3024 is set up on theside-window which is formed by the 3020 and the 3022 by the presserboard which has the property of being absorbed with the compass. Everyside views of the 3020 has the partial starry sky reproducing sheet3024. Since the space between 3024, it has section which can not bereproduce because of the upright strut 3021. The connectional partialstarry sky reproducing sheet 3014 is settle to cover the section. itdoes not have any light since the sky sheet 200 and grounding view arecrossed.

Assistants let observers going inside the 3020 with turning over thepartial starry sky reproducing sheet 3024 that the pressure board 3025is removed. The observers in the 3020 can watch the transmitted lightthat reproduced through the partial starry sky reproducing sheet 3024since the outer side of 3024 is lighted up with the inside-light asback-light. Since the partial starry sky reproducing sheet has theemitting light stars and printed luminous star with UV lamp light fromthe inside of the tent 3020, it will make possible to reproducewider-range of brightness magnitude.

Starry sky reproducing device of Embodiment 4 has the aboveconstitution. That means it has target capacities 1-4 and that it ispossible to provide observation experience at schools or concert hallseven they do not have planetarium facilities.

It is better to have the projector 3025 on outer side of the tent 2020as an inside light. On the situation, the projector 2025 will projectimages on the outer side of the partial starry sky reproducing sheet3024. As same as the back-light LEDs of Embodiment 1, it is possible toreproduce the star blinking, to high-light specified part alongcommentary, and to reproduce specified sky field with high brightnessmagnitude temporality. Moreover, it is possible to project informationfor the first half commentary of an observation program on the partialstarry sky reproducing sheet 3024 though the projector 3025. That meansit does not need to bring any screen.

FIG. 78 is the perspective view illustrating the alternative example ofEmbodiment 4. FIG. 79 is the cross-sectional view. As the viewsillustrating, the ceiling sky sheet 3026 is covered instead of the tent3020, a shading roof on Embodiment 4. As same as Embodiment 3, it hasthe blower 3004. The blast pipe 3005 send the air into the inside of the3020. This method prevents the center of the 3024, the ceiling sky sheetgoing down because of the gravity.

Alternative example on Embodiment 4 has the effects of the Embodiment 4and the presence since the observer can watch even above, the ceiling.

Embodiment 5

FIG. 80 is a partial perspective cross-sectional view illustrating howstarry sky reproducing device 1 should be used on the Embodiment 5 atthe facilities that has stages, like schools or concert halls. FIG. 81is the central cross-sectional view.

In Embodiment 5, the large-sized starry sky reproducing sheet 3027 ishooked up to cover an aperture in front of the stage by curtains and the3028. The 3029, plural stage lights, is hooked up with the 3028 on thesettled position to light up the outer side of the 3027 with specifiedmagnitude of brightness to make the inside of the 3027 observable withsitting the seats. With the stage projector 3030, it is possible toproject commentary information and dark stars on the inside of the 3037that can not be reproduced by the 3037 directly. The images though the3030 should have the option that can adjust the brightness magnitudewith filters.

The plural lighting system 3029 light up the outer surface of thelarge-sized starry sky reproducing sheet 3027. When we use the 3027 onthe some positions with different brightness magnitude, we can reproducethe twinkling, high-light display as requires, and to light-up thepartial location of the sky at a moment. If we use the projector 3030 atseminars on the first half of the observation program, it can bedisplayed on the inside of the large-sized starry sky reproducing sheet3027, that means we do not need a screen and that we can provide anastronomy observation smoothly.

FIGS. 82-82 depicts variation example on Embodiment 5. FIG. 82 is thesectional plan. The variation example of starry sky reproducing deviceon Embodiment 5 consists the following equipment; the circulatingsupporting apparatus 3031 that positioned on the stage by the hangingapparatus 3028, the circulating starry sky reproducing sheet 3032 thathooked by the 3031, the back-light LEDs 3034 that hooked on the wire3033. FIG. 83 is a view of the 3031 from above of the stage. FIG. 84 isa partial cross section detailed chart of the 3031 and drive guiding3035 and the rail 3036.

In the circulating starry sky reproducing sheet 3032, the longitudinalplanar partial starry sky reproducing sheet 3001 is connected with theconnection means 3011 on the example. The 20 sky reproducing sheets 3001is connected circular belt shaped.

The circulating supporting apparatus 3031 equips the followingequipment; the oval-shaped rail 3036, the 20 drive guiding 3035 thatfollows the 3036 and 20 subordinate guide 3037. The 3036 is settled onthe appointed position on the upper part of the stage with a hangingapparatus. The 3036 should be connected with plural partial rails

The drive guiding 3035 is consisted to run along rail 3036 likemonorail. To realize that, the 3035 equips the following equipment; thedriving wheel 30351, guide frame 30352, driving motor 30353, drivingmotor system 30354, and supporting parts 30355. Since the ground planarof the driving wheel 30351 and rail 3036 has moderate frictionalresistance, the gap between the 3036 and 30361, because of thedifference of speed of plural drive guiding 3035, is allowed withslipping the contact between the 30351 and the 3036.

The motor driving system 30354 equips a battery, micro-computer, andmotor-driving element. The speed and direction of the motor iscontrolled by the radio command.

The subordinate guide 3037 has same structure except driving motor30353, 30354, micro-computer, and motor driving element. The 3037 runsfollowing the circulating starry sky reproducing sheet 3032 along therail 3036. The 3032 is hang up along the shape of the 3036. The skysheet 3001 is a partial piece of paper and it can hang up a driveguiding 3035 and subordinate guide 3037 on 2 places.

As FIG. 82 depict, plural wires on hanging apparatus for stage is hangedup on inside of the circulating starry sky reproducing sheet 3032. Everywire has back-light LEDs 3034 and it works with LED driving switch.

The planar space of gallery side on rotation sky sheet 3032 and openingof the stage is covered by black-out. Moreover, the light fromback-light LEDs 3034 is shaded not to glow surface of the 3032 andgallery.

The inside of circulating starry sky reproducing sheet 3032 will belighted up with constant brightness by back-light LEDs 3034. Thespectators can watch the transmitted light from their seat throughbinocular telescope. On the partial starry sky reproducing sheet 3001,since it achieves target capacities 1-4, the spectators can watch thewhole sky with details through the telescope as well. When we use thedrive guiding 3035, the 3035 and the subordinate guide 3037 will goalong the rail 3036. Since the rotation sky sheet 30321 will move leftto right, the spectators can watch plural sky, travel in an orbit aroundthe galaxy. It has the effect to provide multiple astronomicalobservation experiences.

The facilities which equips the stage set to enforce the metamorphosisexample on the Embodiment 5 resides anywhere, for example, schools,community centers, or concert halls. It will bring big effect on thediffusion of astronomical education to provide high-quality astronomicalobservation.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Starry sky reproducing device provides the detailed astronomicalobservation. It also has possibility to inflect on some industries;using the system on lectures, or as supplement teaching aid ofastronomical telescope at schools, as alternative on bad weather attourism.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   -   100 light box    -   101 magnet    -   102 clear board    -   103 installation frame    -   200 large-sized starry sky reproducing sheet    -   300 body board    -   301 one-chip CPU    -   302 LED driving IC    -   303 power IC    -   106 external power supply    -   105 back-light LED    -   107 lamp arm    -   109 UV lamp    -   108 infrared sensor    -   111 infrared remote controller    -   110 light pollution lamp    -   304 brightness adjusting volume controller    -   307 luminous intensity sensor    -   305 white chip LED    -   104 LED opening window    -   306 a, 306 b, 306 c, 306 d contact probe    -   206 contact board    -   209 a, 209 b, 209 c, 209 d contact pad    -   208 nonvolatile memory    -   230 plastic optical fiber    -   205 optical fiber integrated part    -   207 rubber adhesive    -   212 optical fiber entrance-hole    -   231 branching point    -   210 star-shaped filter    -   211 printed filter    -   220 laminated sheet    -   201 the first layer of paper    -   202 aluminum layer    -   203 the second layer of paper    -   204 the third layer of paper    -   212 the first group hole    -   213 the second group hole    -   214 the third group hole    -   215 the first printed-filter letter    -   216 the second printed-filter letter    -   217 filter sticker    -   218 fluorescence ink

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A starry sky reproducing device comprising: aceiling section an inner surface of which has a semi-spherical surfaceon which a starry sky can be projected; a wall section which has anearly vertical wall surface contiguous to a lower end section of thesemi-spherical surface of the ceiling section; a floor section on whichthe wall section is installed; starry sky projection means forprojecting a starry sky on the semi-spherical surface of the ceilingsection, the starry sky projection means being installed near a centerof the floor section and near a center of the semi-spherical surface ofthe ceiling section; a plurality of seats which are installed on thefloor section; one or more partial starry sky reproducing means forreproducing details of a part of a starry sky, the partial starry skyreproducing means being installed between the seats and the wallsurface, preferably at positions in a proximity of the wall surface; andone or more telescopes through which a detailed image of a part of astarry sky which the partial starry sky reproducing means reproduces canbe observed, the telescopes being installed at positions between theseats and the wall surface opposing the partial starry sky reproducingmeans across the starry sky projection means.
 12. A starry skyreproducing device according to claim 11, wherein the aforementionedpartial starry sky reproducing means are disposed lower than the lowerend section of the semi-spherical surface of the aforementioned ceilingsection.
 13. A starry sky reproducing device according to claim 11,wherein the starry sky reproducing device of the present invention isequipped with a plurality of pairs of the aforementioned partial starrysky reproducing means and telescopes and at least two pairs are disposedat positions so that viewing directions of the telescopes cross eachother.
 14. A starry sky reproducing device according to claim 11,wherein the starry sky reproducing device has commentary informationproviding means for providing observers with commentary information ofcelestial objects they observe.
 15. A starry sky reproducing deviceaccording to claim 14, wherein the aforementioned commentary informationproviding means have within-field-of-view information providing meansfor providing the commentary information for celestial objectobservations so that observers can view the commentary informationwithin a field of view of celestial object observations.
 16. A starrysky reproducing device according to claim 11, wherein the aforementionedtelescopes have focusing condition changing means for adjusting focusingconditions depending on differences in observers' vision.
 17. A starrysky reproducing device according to claim 11, wherein the starry skyreproducing device has: observer identification information input meansfor inputting observer identification information for identifyingobservers; and observer-specific information input means for inputtinginformation specific to observers from a server based on the observeridentification information inputted; whereby, based on the informationspecific to observers, the starry sky reproducing device changesprovided contents of commentary information or focusing conditions. 18.A starry sky reproducing device according to claim 11, wherein thestarry sky reproducing device of the present invention hasobserver-specific information setting means for recording informationspecific to observers on a server.